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MapAction Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping

1. The following window will open QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping You can now make the choice of what vector type you d like to display on the newly created layer Choose between Point Line and Polygon Then assign a CRS and enter attribute column names for the layer Then click Save As 5 10 2 Using the polygon shapefile Example Once your shapefile layer has been created and the polygon radio button selected from the dialogue give the layer a suitable name and save it according to your personal or your organisation s conventions see chapter 2 5 for establishing an organised file naming system You are now ready to start producing polygons on your map oe Activate Edit mode become illuminated These are the drawing and editing tools To stop editing and you will notice several buttons adjacent click toggle edit and save edits map to form a shape Each point is connected to the last by a line Pressing Capture Polygon Once selected it is possible to click points on the backspace will delete the last point captured Remember to use Right click to complete the polygon once you are satisfied with it k undesirable Left click and drag the polygon to its new location pe Node tool click this tool to highlight the nodes or corners of the polygon These can Move Feature s Use this tool if the position of the polygon is If the polygon formed on the map requires adjustment
2. Select Tools gt Ruler gt Line Tab or E e Select unit of measurement e Click on start point in 3D viewer and then end point e Distance and Heading are shown in dialog box e The line can be saved as a path by clicking Save Measuring a path Select Tools gt Ruler gt Path Tab or E e Select unit of measurement e Click on start point in 3D viewer e Continue to click points or Left click and drag for freehand to end point e Distance and Heading are shown in dialog box e The line can be saved as a path by clicking Save Tip The measurements of a path already drawn can be found in the Measurement Tab of its properties Right click Path gt Properties gt Measurements Elevation Profile Google Earth can show the elevation profile bottom of screen of a path and measurements height gradient and distance for any point along its route as well as overall distance elevation loss gain max min slope and average slope How to Right click path gt Elevation Profile To find the measurements of a specific point move the red slider a red arrow will point to the corresponding location in the 3D viewer ED www mapaction org Activity Seven Flooding is a natural hazard which affects thousands of people every year Bolivia has faced more severe flooding in recent years due to the effects of La Ni a Fly To 14 50 16 25 S 64 54 13 18 W and create a placemark named Fjeld Operations
3. Use to delete a ring or a part respectively adjust their shape The larger area will be kept and the smaller area deleted and Reshape Features Select this button to trim polygons in order to Don t forget you can use Undo and Redo to rectify mistakes Split Features two parts are then independent of one another and can positioned separately Dissect a polygon with this tool to split it in two The Merge Features Select two or more features using and click the Merge Features button to merge them You then have the option to E gt www mapaction org synchronise their attributes either by identifying one polygon that all the others then adopt attributes or by using maximum minimum or median attributes from those features selected Once features are merged they behave as one and move relative to one another Note these editing tools are used in much the same way for polylines and points Some of the buttons are restricted as their function is not relevant as it is for polygons Add Ring for example Tip Two or more layers can be used with different colour polygons for each to depict data such as varying suitability for IDP sites 5 10 4 Using these tools to digitise features on a map This simple example digitisation was made by capturing an image from Google Earth File gt Save gt Save Image gt filename png then importing it into QGIS as a raster layer See 5 3 3 for detail
4. Mapping A useful site is the Landsat org Path Row Finder This can be found at http 35 8 163 122 ortho Humanitarian To use simply drag the map to pan and zoom in using the slider on the left or the mouse wheel Once your desired location is found zoom in far enough to read the 6 digit number associated with each tile The first 3 digits of this number are the Path and the latter 3 digits are the Row These can then be entered into the parameter boxes on the ESDI Map Search Path Row tab Don t forget to press the Update Map button once you have made your selection Data Collection Note Although there is the facility to locate tiles using ESDI the Landsat org tool is much faster and smoother to operate GPS Lat Long The coordinates of a location are entered here either in decimal degrees or degrees minutes and seconds in the format displayed under the viewer Place Type the name of a place into the box and press return or click the Update Map button If several places of the same or similar name are found a radio button list is displayed with a little further information to help you narrow your search Click a radio button to display the desired place An area will appear in the viewer framed in yellow a town or city will appear as a yellow crosshair G LU Ae D Draw With this tab open the 2 icon appears above the viewer ensure it is selected by clickin
5. Shp2KML shp2kml sourceforge net Export shapefiles to Google Earth s KML GPS TrackMaker www gpstm com format Convert shapefiles in virtually any MapWindow www mapwindow org coordinate system Drawing grids paths GE Pah www sgrillo net googleearth and polygons gepath htm Create process and import export KML KMLToolbox www zonums com kmltoolbox html code Building better Outreach Tutorial http earth google com outreach balloons tutorial_balloon html Plot tabular data to bar graphs with www sgrillo net googleearth gt GE Graph geometrical shapes E gegraph htm colours and polygons Cache G fe arch http ox11 110mb com gecacher htm ache Google Ear 8 GE Cacher eh data www download com Google Earth Voyager 3000 2648_4 10667194 html ERD www mapaction org 4 8 Saving and printing images Contents 4 8 1 Save current view Use File gt Save gt Save Image to save the current view as an image file to your computer s hard drive The image is saved with all visible placemarks borders or other layer information visible in the 3D viewer Humanitarian Mapping 4 8 2 Printing File gt Print Print dialog box appears that asks you to choose one of the following Data Collection Selected Folder in My Places This is available if you have selected any placemark or folder in the Places folder This prints the current 3D view plus placemark information and images Graphic of 3D View Choose a
6. The information you collect during humanitarian assessments will have much greater value if others can locate it on a map Just writing down a place name eg of a village you visited is dangerously imprecise what if that village doesn t appear with that name on other people s maps What if there are two places with the same name If you have a Global Positioning System GPS receiver you can and should use it to record the unique coordinates of the places you are referring to in reports If you don t have a GPS unit check your satellite phone some have a GPS receiver built in and can give you your position Increasingly Smartphones have GPS receivers however there are still limitations to this technology notably battery life For this reason a handheld GPS receiver is currently the best and most reliable tool This chapter focuses on handheld GPS receivers but the same principles can be applied to mobile phones Further details and considerations on the use of GPS in Smartphones can be found in Appendix 3D Assuming you have a device equipped with GPS this short guide is intended to help you to use the basic functions to collect data on the ground in a way that will ensure it has greater use back at base and greater value when shared with other organisations 3 2 Before your field mission If you have a GPS receiver make sure it works In a new location even after moving a few hundred kilometres the GPS needs to be warmed u
7. http www proventionconsortium org Public Health Mapping WHO is promoting the use of GIS to support decision making for a wide range of infectious disease and public health programmes http www who int gho map_gallery en index html Quantum GIS open source GIS with user friendly interface and extensive functionality Explored in detail in chapter 5 www qgis org ReliefWeb news and satellite imagery on disasters across the globe regularly updated Includes several useful tools http reliefweb int home Satellite Remote Sensing integrated CEOS European data Server http iceds ge ucl ac uk Satellite Remote Sensing Global Land Cover Facility http gief umiacs umd edu index shtml SavGIS downloadable Spanish language GIS software maintained by an official body Free licence www savgis org es Spring GIS GIS and remote sensing image processing system Product of the Brazilian Space Agency www dpi inpe br spring index html SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission global 90 m digital elevation model http sttm usgs gov http www ambiotek com topoview KMZ file download that requires Google Earth http sttm csi cgiar org Tatuk GIS A general purpose commercially available GIS suite Includes a standalone free to download GIS viewer www tatukgis com products Editor Editor aspx og www mapaction org ea Se Vostro oh ee es See 442 Me Lee Og EENS NN Sa NN rong AN E E SSSL TEOS E Os pErTO HO ZO
8. Click the QGIS User Manual See section 10 8 Georeferencer plugin 5 11 1 Identifying target data and reference data In this example a Google Earth aerial photo image of a northern district of Port Au Prince capital of Haiti will be georeferenced against MapAction data Throughout this section the target data that which are you are about to georeference is referred to as an image it could also be vector paths polygons points and so on The reference data in the example is a layer of spatially located buildings compiled by MapAction GPS You will need a geographically accurate reference image shapefile or map that is already georegistered assigned coordinates loaded into your QGIS viewer in order to perform the georeferencing operation 5 11 2 Initiating and using the Georeferencer plugin G L oo D Open the QGIS Georeferencer plugin Plugins gt Georeferencer gt Georeferencer The window shown below will open You add your target image by File gt Open Raster gt locate the file and Click Open QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Take note of recognisable features in the image that correspond with those on your reference data layer Such features on this example might include the cluster of oblong buildings in the northeast the three rows of cylindrical looking structures in the west and the regular linear structure in the open area in the south east If you need
9. HydroSHEDS rivers T http hydrosheds cr usgs gov Hydrological data and maps based on SHuttle Elevation Derivatives at multiple Scales Drainage basins catchments and watershed maps derived from high resolution SRTM elevation data Data formats include ESRI Shapefile with xm and html metadata and p77 ASCII projection file See http hydrosheds cr usgs gov data php for a detailed breakdown of available file types King s College London Geodata Portal T www kclac uk geodata Collection of datasets delivered as Google Earth KML KMZ files Data ranges from deforestation to hydrology to climatology to biodiversity LandScan T www ornl gov sci landscan Population distribution with 1km resolution Many applications within humanitarian mapping such as determining potential victims to a particular disaster Data available in ESRI grid format Logistics Cluster SDI T T www logcluster org tools mapcentre sdit The WFP Spatial Data Infrastructure for Transport Contains data layers on roads obstacles aerodromes ports warehouses bridges for countries of concern all over the world Map data is available in png Other data such as Logistics Capacity Assessments are downloadable as PDF reports geoportal logclustet org A simple and user friendly viewer that can be used to display layers constructed by SDI T on basemaps such as SDI OpenStreetMap and Google imagery The map can be edited by hand within the viewer
10. L Ae D O QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Download KMZ for Google Earth Presents the image data in a format specifically for use with Google Earth See Downloading a KMZ file for use in Google Earth below for further information Sub sets This is an array of georectified images from across the globe The user selects the desired area from a world map displaying which areas are available as red framed boxes or from the accompanying list of links arranged alphabetically Once the particular subset is chosen some such as the FIRMS or the Antarctic subsets have additional information attached to them and in a few instances extra sub menus from which to choose a catalogue of available imagery for that subset is displayed If a choice is made in error navigation to the previous directory can be achieved with the link in the upper left of the screen Once the subset is selected the user can specify the date of the image provided it is available and select the resolution for the particular image the instrument by which it was taken and choose from the available colour bands Select the image from the catalogue that is most suitable and it will open into a full size viewer Here there are many options available to customise the output by alternating between Terra and Aqua changing the resolution and colour bands so don t be too worried about trying to select the perfect combination from th
11. Mac Google Earth gt Preferences gt General tab 2 Under Language settings choose the appropriate language of your choice System Default corresponds to the language used by the operating system of your computer Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 1 4 Important technical points to note before the full functionality of Google Earth is explored Datum Google Earth uses the WGS84 datum for its imagery base This is important to be aware of because any data you import for example from your GPS unit should be set to the same datum in order to display accurately Projection system Google Earth uses the Simple Cylindrical projection If you import any map data that uses a different projection system from this Google Earth will re project it this may create some spatial inconsistencies Coordinate systems Google Earth can work with coordinates in Latitude Longitude degrees minutes seconds or decimal degrees or Universal Transverse Mercator UTM This is explained in Appendix 4B of this chapter Note It is important to bear these in mind at all times while combining GPS data imported imagery and other data with Google Earth in order to construct a comprehensive and spatially accurate map This is explained in finer detail throughout this chapter 4 1 5 Using the navigation controls To view and use the navigation controls move the cursor over to the right corner of the 3D viewer To hide or show the compass icon
12. a Add gt Polygon or b Click gp For both shapes begin drawing by clicking the start position of the path polygon in the 3D viewer e Clicking along a feature will give straight lines between points For a freehand line click and hold the left mouse button to draw This is particularly useful for curvy features such as a road or river e Once completed click OK e For greater accuracy zoom in closer to the feature This can be done whilst drawing the path or polygon by pressing the plus or minus keys on your keyboard in and out respectively Editing a shape Open the properties box of the shape The individual points of the shape will turn red and are highlighted green when the cursor hand hovers over it To move a point select the point and drag Left click and hold the point to its new position To delete a point select point and press the delete key To add a point by selecting the point before and then start drawing The description and style properties of a path or polygon are the same as those of a placemark In the properties box Right click gt properties Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 3 6 Basic tools Measurements Google Earth offers tools to measure the distance of between two points or along a path and its elevation profile A quick measurement of a distance perhaps along a winding road is a very useful feature for field work of all kinds Measuring between two points
13. leave it for a period of time before stopping the averaging The longer the averaging is left the more accurate it will be Most GPS units can record hundreds or thousands of waypoints They stay in the memory even when the unit is switched off until you delete them Tracklogs are a record of where you have been which can X be collected automatically by the GPS as you go along With most GPS this will only happen if tracklogging is switched on using the setup menu although on some units like the Garmin eTrex tracklogging is permanently on Tracklogs are a very good way to map the route you have travelled along While tracklogging you can still add specific waypoints as you go to note particular features settlements or landmarks along the way The waypoints and tracks form separate datasets Once the tracklog memory is full some GPS units start to overwrite the earlier track There may be various options to avoid this such as changing the distance between tracklog points check the setup menu or user manual if you are not sure Be www mapaction org 3 5 Suggestions on how to use GPS to collect data Surveying features along a route You may be travelling a circular route in a vehicle for example Consider tracklogging the whole route if you have enough GPS memory Log a WP at the start and end of damaged road sections for example a flood washout Log a WP at each village or settlement you pass through Remembe
14. 2 KML and KMZ Keyhole Markup Language KML is the file format used in Google Earth and is now an international standard recognized by the Open Geospatial Consortium OGC It is based on XML and is relatively easy to understand with minimal knowledge When KML files are zipped with related content like pictures the format becomes KMZ Geodatabases Although it is also a general term for spatial databases ESRI geodatabases are a specifically defined format used in the latest versions of some GIS software alongside or instead of shapefiles 1 7 3 Raster and image data While much spatial data is held in vector formats points lines and polygons images and scanned maps ate managed as a raster such as a TIFF format However to be usable in GIS raster data files must have linked data to w www mapaction org georeference the data that is to define its spatial coordinates in relation to the earth s surface There are many specific file formats used for raster data Contents 1 8 Data and information management In this section two related topics will be explored Data management concerns the storage of your spatial data for the mapping process Information management IM is the broader discipline of using data and mapping tools effectively to support decision making in a humanitarian context An understanding of the principles of IM is very useful to make GIS work relevant and effective in achieving positive humani
15. Add class Dele es Randomize Colors Reset Colors A list of the values you entered will appear Feeding Station Latrine O Tents Click Appl and then OK The features will be displayed in the different categories on the map Experiment with the different legend types Can you produce a legend based on graduated symbols hint use the Quantity field www mapaction org 5 10 Digitising new features Contents How might I use this In this section you will learn how to digitise several types of features and how to add them to your map as layers The process of manually creating new vector features point line or polygon guided by a background layer Humanitarian Mapping This may include such examples as 1 Tracing flood extents or forest areas from a satellite image Digitising rivers or village centres from a scanned map Mapping roads from GPS tracks Data Collection The benefits of digitising features they are vector features meaning They can be symbolised any way the user requires They can be easily edited to reflect changes They can be measured e g Quantity number of features Length e g of roads Area e g of IDP settlement GPS 5 10 1 Creating a new shapefile layer In order to create and store the features you want to digitise you first need to create a new shapefile layer Click Layer gt New gt New shapefile layer G L ae D
16. Areas GADM www gadm ore A database of the location of the world s administrative boundaries Global or national level data can be accessed The downloads are available as Shapefille shp ESRI Geodatabase can be opened in ArcGIS an expensive but powerful tool RData and the Google Earth format kmz Data is ten downloaded in levels from the national border down to municipal areas Global Administrative Unit Layers GAUL www fao org geonetwork stv en metadata show id 12691 1 See also SALB Much the same as GADM above Administrative boundaries for the entire globe ate available at 3 levels GeoFabrik OSM download geofabrik de osm Places road rail and waterway networks amongst others for much of the world Available as dbf prj shp shx packaged together in a z7p file Can be viewed in a GIS software application such as QGIS see chapter 5 Global Land Cover 2000 GLC2000 T bioval jrc ec europa eu products glc2000 g1c2000 php Vegetation maps for much of the globe A PDF is available for quick viewing before committing to a download this opens in a new window of your browser A coloured legend accompanies each map A short form must be submitted to allow access to the download gt www mapaction org Global Land Cover Facility T glcfumiacs umd edu A large selection of satellite imagery from a range of sensors Including but not limited to Landsat MODIS SRTM ASTER GDEM Quickbird and Orb
17. Centre Locate areas of high flat land for possible refugee camps and draw red polygons around them Change the settings of the polygons so you can just see the ground beneath Measure the distance via road in meters between your perspec tive IDP camps Using the measuring tool again calculate the area accumulated for IDP camps Tip To label shapes on the map add a placemark near the line or in the area to describe the feature 4 4 Using image overlays How might I use this Although the basic imagery roads and settlements layers in Google Earth may sometimes be all you need often you will want to use other maps that you have obtained for example a detailed local map or a map showing health statistics The image overlay feature is a very easy but powerful way to import such maps into your Google Earth world you just need to obtain an electronic version of the add on map for example by photographing it with a digital camera File formats that can be used to create an image overlay JPG BMP GIF TIFF TGA or PNG Tip If you are having trouble importing a large image you can reduce its size using image editing commercial software such as Adobe Photoshop or freeware such as IrfanView or GIMP 85 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 4 1 Image overlay basics Image overlays provide additional information about the underlying earth im agery They can be taken from your computer from your network
18. Click on F the Mac gt Delete Removing a placemark or folder If you delete a folder you also delete all its contents including other folders and icons Select item gt Right click CTRL click on Saving places data the Mac gt Save as placemarks shapes folders to hard drive poe is saved as a single file in KML Em www mapaction org Task Opening saved placemarks Showing and hiding places data Repositioning placemarks Description File gt Open gt Navigate to KML gt Open The folder or placemark appears beneath the Temporary Places folder and the 3D viewer files to the view set for the folder or placemark Use the show hide features of Google Earth to quickly manage the amount of content visible in the 3D viewer Select or deselect the check box next to an item or a whole folder Dragging the placemark Select placemark gt drag yellow square to the new location Locking a placemark to the centre of the view Select placemark gt Right click gt properties gt View tab gt check centre in view box gt drag the earth to desired location Activity Four Find the Berg River Bridge in South Africa at 32 47 15 58 S 18 10 8 26 E and assign a placemark Call it Bridge Out and describe that the road is impassable at this point Find an open area in the same region and place a symbol to locate it as a possible displaced persons location Create a folder in P
19. In this guide we are focusing on tried and tested technologies readily deployable by almost any organisation with a minimum of changes to existing systems but assuming access to a computer The technologies described are accessible at low or no cost beyond the basic costs of computer hardware Internet access is required pre mission to download software and data to set up mapping systems However in keeping with the realities of emergency response work it is assumed that in humanitarian field operations there can be no reliance on internet connections The contents of this guide form one part of a package of support available from MapAction to help humanitarian organisations to exploit geospatial technologies in their work including web based services data and software tools DELE Humanitarian A Contents Mapping Collection GPS G L Ae D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 1 2 How are maps useful in humanitarian work In everyday life we may use maps mainly for navigation In humanitarian work however the real power of maps is as a means of communicating and sharing the complex information that is a crucial resource in emergency response In such situations maps become vital tools for decision making Information is very directly about saving lives If we take the wrong decisions make the wrong choices about where we put our money and our effort because our knowledge is poor we are
20. Microsoft Windows menu naviga to open each menu re tion shortcuts spectively Open file Ctrl O Save image Ctrl Alt S View in Google Maps Ctrl Alt M Print Ctrl P Email view Ctrl Alt E Copy current selection Ctrl C Cut placemark Ctrl X Paste placemark Cil W Open Find Field Cilicia Delete item Del Rename item Ctrl Alt R Zoom to selected placemark item Enter Full screen mode F11 Show Hide sidebar Ctrl Alt B Lat lon grid Ctrl L New placemark Ctrl Shift P New folder Ctrl Shift N New image overlay Ctrl Shift O New model Ctrl Shift M New path Ctrl Shift T New polygon Ctrl Shift G Reset direction of view to North after rotating N Reset angle to top down after tilting U www mapaction org Appendix 4D Useful websites for Google Earth Free Geography Tools http freegeographytools com 2009 using the google earth cache basics For various add on tools for use with Google Earth Geolyzer http geolyzer dirkoester de eng A compact usability lab for KML content It allows you to record and playback subject activities generate 3D Heatmaps to analyze mouse activity on the globe and export reports Google Earth Blog www gearthblog com For Google Earth news and updates Google Earth Community http bbs keyhole com An online forum which is dedicated to producing Placemarks of interesting or educational perspectives Google LatLo
21. My Places Folder When Google Earth is next opened that data can be found in the My Places folder Save Place as File gt Save gt Save Place as ot Right click placemark gt Save Place as This function saves the data on your hard drive as a KML or KMZ file This file can then be shared like any other computer file There is a choice of two files KML and KMZ details of which were outline in section 4 6 1 A KMZ file is a zipped compressed KML file Not only does this mean the file size is smaller but any images and custom icons that have been used either as overlays or in descriptions are saved This KMZ file can then be emailed shared with others If a KML is shared or the location of a an image or custom icon changes the link to them is broken and will not be viewable Tip Save as KMZ as the preferred file type Save My Places File gt Save gt Save My Places This will Save the My Places Folder as a KMZ to the Google Earth Folder on your hard drive It is essentially a Backup folder Save Image File gt Save gt Save Image This saves a screen shot of Google Earth as a JPG which can then be emailed shared Ensure any data you want displayed is switch on tick untick placemarks lines polygons etc Tip Press F11 Full Screen before Save Image to get maximum coverage in the JPG 92 gt www mapaction org 4 6 2 Sharing Places information Contents Share placemarks shapes and folder
22. Some key concepts Contents 1 4 1 What is spatial data Spatial data is any data that has a where component that can be recorded and mapped Examples include A village where you are doing a needs assessment where is it A D T A safe route for trucks to deliver relief supplies can you plot it on a g 4 A district for which you have health statistics what are its boundaries Spatial data records have coordinates where and attributes what For aE example Coordinates Attributes Lat 51 675 Lon 0 604 Amersham Health Centre open Mon Fri 0830 1700 Data Collection Attributes can be any data about the specified place So by adding the coordinate data to an existing data set you have created a spatial database data that can be mapped As Global Positioning System GPS devices have become cheaper GPS receivers are being incorporated into equipment like mobile cellular phones and cameras So in future we will often have opportunities to attach coordinate tags geotags to data that we collect for example geotagging photos taken during fieldwork This is just another way of collecting spatial data that can be shared and mapped GPS 1 4 2 How can we use and share our spatial data Uses of spatial data GIS is about analysis and visualisation of spatial data Analysis Using computer tools you can analyse several sets of data to create new data sets For example combin
23. Systems DBMS are mainly used to store the data but often also provide limited analysis and data manipulation functions themselves WebMap servers are used to distribute maps and data over the internet WebGIS clients are used for data display and to access analysis and query functions from Server GIS over the internet or an intranet Libraries and extensions provide additional analysis functions that are not part of the basic GIS software For instance functions for network and terrain analysis or functions to read specific data formats Mobile GIS tools can be used for field data collection Both appropriate software and hardware are needed GIS software is not only provided by companies such as Autodesk Bentley and ESRI Inc but increasingly also by free and open source software FOSS projects Open software projects often concentrate on a single category especially with respect to server applications MapServer GeoServer and spatial DBMS PostGIS Free desktop GIS software projects such as Quantum GIS gvSIG and MapWindow have growing user communities Such free GIS software complements the set of proprietary software instead of competing with it Various desktop software for GIS has been tested during research for this guide to provide a comprehensive list of software available that meets the required functions This field guide will give direction on Google Earth chapter 4 and QGIS chapter 5 as they have bee
24. Write in numbers the coordinates columns to log any here or just types of attribute keep them features you info you savedinthe are most want to GPS interested in record for recording that waypoint e I At Appendix 3B is a copy of MapAction s blank WP form for you to reproduce and use if you wish Here is an example showing how the form can be used It is not essential that you use a recording sheet exactly like the one above but whatever you do you must be able to record accurately the attributes for each waypoint you have saved with the GPS www mapaction org 3 7 Back at base When you hand over the notes or report from your assessment make sure you also pass on the coordinate data you have collected There are various ways to do this If there is room on the assessment report forms you could write in the coordinates of places visited For high precision make sure you write down the coordinate system and datum that the GPS was set to eg UTM and WGS84 Discuss with whoever you are handing over the data and make sure they understand what you have just given them Contents Humanitarian Mapping Next you will want to transfer the data from the GPS onto a computer If there are only a few waypoints you can simply read the coordinates for each saved waypoint off the GPS screen and input them directly into your GIS software for example
25. a Data Naming Convention is followed with helps to distinguish each file by its geoextent category theme type and lastly its source These are all important factors to knowing what the data is and for what and when it can be used in your GIS MapAction has developed over time a system that works for our operational needs It is important that time is invested into creating a system that works for you covering your own Geoextent The spatial or geographical extent of the data defined as a 3 to 4 characters This may be a country or continent but can refer to other geographies e g individual admin districts cities etc For example for Haiti HTI Data Category Any number of characters typically four providing a broad description of the content of the data D www mapaction org Data Theme Any number of characters typically three providing a more detailed description of the content of the data Data Type A 2 or 3 letter code defining the geometric type of the spatial component of the layer Valid Data Type Clauses include point pt line In polygon py raster dataset ras and table ta Source This describes the origin the dataset for example clusters and the corresponding lead DELEI Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS G LU Ae D O QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Chapter 3 An introduction to Global Positioning Systems GPS 3 1 Introduction
26. a few mouse clicks Data from multiple tables can be merged Viewers of your data will always see the latest version Charts and maps they have made using your tables will be updated automatically when you make improvements to your datasets Large online community with which to discuss data and seek advice or guidance There is a vast bank of data supplied by Google and its users that can be viewed and used for all manner of applications 4 9 1 Some basic features of Google Fusion Tables The following instructions give a very brief insight into the functionality of Google Fusion Tables They are designed merely to provide an introduction to Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS LS LL Ac D O erei Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping the vast capabilities of such an extensive and powerful tool In order to use Google Fusion Tables effectively and to a much higher potential than this guide can describe it is advised that you visit http www google com fusiontables public tour index html to explore the many tutorials and help files provided by Google and the public forums concerning particular questions and techniques Begin creating your own table When you log in for the first time you are automatically directed to the database of publically available tables created by other users There is a list of viewing options to the left of the screen with which to filter what you see on th
27. and exported as a PDF The tool is suitable for use even by those with no GIS experience MapAbility VMAP www mapability com info vmap0_index html T www mapability com info vmap1_index html Worldwide coverage of vector based geospatial data It consists of geographic attribute and textural data VMap includes major road and rail networks CE www mapaction org hydrologic drainage systems utility networks cross country pipelines and communication lines major airports elevation contours coastlines international boundaries and populated places VMap 0 is based on 1 1 000 000 map scale source and VMap 1 is based on 1 250 000 map scale source GIS software is required to make use of this data see chapter 5 Quantum GIS Contents MapStor PoeHali Russian topographic maps scans georeferenced mapstor com Humanitarian Mapping A vast resource for georeferenced topographic maps The maps can be downloaded individually for free or in sets for a small fee MODIS Rapid Response T lance nasa gov imagery rapid response Data Collection Continually updated datasets of imagery acquired by a range of spaceborne sensors See section 2 4 1 below for detailed instructions on using this site and downloading data from it GPS Natural Earth www naturalearthdata com Carefully coloured maps and overlays derived from both raster and vector sources Can provide an eye pleasing basemap and layers such as clean wel
28. desired layer in the Map Legend and specify Zoom to Layer Extent vector data only or Best Scale raster and vector data 5 4 2 Docking and undocking Views How might I use this You may find it easier to have different windows bigger or smaller or not visible at all To customize your information windows click and pull on the top of the window Hold down the left mouse key and drag the window to desired location Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS 25 L Ae D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 5 4 3 Panning Panning allows the user to move the map display around to show areas outside of the current viewing area without changing the scale of the map Click gt Move cursor over map gt Click and hold Left mouse button The map will move with the cursor until released 5 5 Using the map legend to control the layers How might I use this The Map Legend is a graphical representation of all the map layers in the current project Each line represents a layer of data that is in the main view You can change a layer s symbology or the order of display for the layers For example a layer may be given a colouring scheme indicating varying affected population To turn a layer on or off click the check box next to it The image to the right tells you the type of layer and its present symbology The layer will have a plus or minus sign next to it to indicate they are
29. don t want to display in the main table It could be notes on how the data was acquired who acquired it what method was used and so on anything you deem relevant You can leave a comment on a table a row a column or the value in a particular cell Contents Humanitarian Mapping Merging two tables Click Merge 1 Enter the URL of the table you wish to merge or select it from the drop down list 2 Choose columns that will share data over the two tables 3 Check Select columns to choose columns to display in your newly merged table 4 Assign a name for your new table 5 Click Merge tables button or cancel if you wish to reconsider Data Collection Clete Your new table will now be displayed It is separate from the two constituent tables and will not overwrite the original data Checking the accuracy of inputted coordinates Where Google Fusion Tables recognises coordinates in a data row this symbol appears gy Click it to view your data point in Google Maps You then have the option to select from nearby points or if it is not the correct location use the search bar 2S LL Ac D O to enter alternate coordinates 4 9 2 Visualising your data on Google Maps How might I use this The data entered into your Google Fusion Table can be visualised in several different ways Due to the nature of this field guide the method we are most interested in is on a map This section outlines the main features
30. exaggeration so that you can see more easily the features of the landscape where you will be working You can set a number of other preferences to affect 3D viewer imagery as well as how icons labels and other elements are displayed Humanitarian Mapping Displaying a latitude longitude grid Google Earth provides a special layer accessible from the View menu that displays a grid of latitude and longitude lines over the imagery in the 3D viewer To turn on the grid Select View gt Grid Data Collection The grid appears over the earth imagery as white lines with each latitude longitude degree line labeled in an axis across the centre of the 3D viewer You can position a geographical feature in the 3D viewer and determine its basic geospatial coordinates using this grid GPS Setting the view size To enter full screen mode or to return to window mode from full screen mode either Select View gt Full Screen Or Press F11 Use the View Size options in under the View menu to select a number of pre set aspect ratios designed for best playback modes or printing modes The selected option resizes the 3D Viewer for the best display for your intended purpose 2S LL Ac D O 4 1 8 Using the overview map The overview map window feature displays an additional view of the Earth with a position indicator that corresponds to the current view inside the 3D viewer To show or hide the overview map window do o
31. floor elevation of the view Data Collection 5 Absolute The altitude of the placemark is above sea level You can adjust the altitude using the slider or by entering a value in meters in the AXitude field Extend to ground If a features altitude has been defined by the user extend to ground draws a connecting line from the point on the ground to the placemark icon or point in a line or polygon GPS Modifying folder settings Applying a description label and advanced settings to a folder provides display characteristics that differ from settings applied to individual placemarks or to other geometry features The name description and view that you provide when you edit a folder applies only to that folder and not to the items it contains Setting a view for a folder is useful when you want to create a viewing angle to encompass all the items contained by the folder As with styles altitude settings can apply to all items in the folder once style sharing is enabled This includes subfolders Altitude settings apply to all geometry within the folder ig a 2 oO Modifying settings for a single item You can modify all settings for a single item to affect the display of that item only When you change the style and altitude settings for an item in a folder style sharing is disabled for that folder However styles that have been previously applied via the shared styles are preserved for other items in t
32. in by sliding the zoom bar Zoom out by clicking the zoom out button Tip To stop the tilt when you zoom in click Options gt Navigation gt uncheck box Zoom in using a placemark In Google Earth a placemark marks a location Each placemark appears as a pushpin with a label You can learn how to create these in chapter 4 3 In the P aces panel left of 3D viewer locate the Sightseeing folder You may need to scroll down to view this folder Expand the Sightseeing folder by clicking Double clicking on a place name zooms to it 4 1 6 Finding places and directions How might I use this There are a lot of placenames in the Google Earth database even for developing countries Use the Search feature to find places you want to locate but be aware of variation in spelling If someone gives you coordinates for example in latitude longitude you can fly straight to that point on the earth s surface You can search for specific locations using the Fy To Tab in Google Earth To do this enter the location in the input box and click on the Search button Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS bs Lu erei Google Earth recognizes the following types of search terms entered with or without commas City country Number street city state Zipcode or postal code Latitude longitude in decimal format e Latitude longitude in degrees minutes seconds D
33. in the 3D viewer Click View gt Show Navigation The Google Earth navigation controls offer the same type of navigation action that you can achieve with mouse navigation Navigation ring to tilt the terrain toward a horizon view To move the centre point of the view down up right or left Use the zoom slider to zoom in or out to zoom in to zoom out 5 Double click the icons at the end of the slider to reset the zoom Click the north up button to reset the view so that north is at the top of the screen Click hold and drag the navigation ring to rotate the view To move the 3D view in any direction position the mouse cursor on the viewer and press the left main mouse button The cursor icon changes from an open hand to a closed hand allowing you to drag a new part of the earth into view CW www mapaction org Zooming in and out Zoom in and out using the mouse Zoom out by doing one of the following e Double click alternate mouse button Scroll the mouse wheel down toward you a number of times e Hold down the alternate mouse button drag the mouse up e Scroll the mouse wheel down towards you a number of times e Zoom in by doing the opposite e Hold down the alternate mouse button drag the mouse down Do this a number of times Zoom in and out using the navigation controls The navigation controls appear in the top right corner of the 3D viewer Zoom in by clicking the zoom in button Zoom
34. linking to the KMZ file Only you will be Humanitarian able to see the description you enter here unless you email your link folder to other people Data Collection 4 7 Google Earth add ons How might I use this Google Earth has many tools however to enable for further adding editing and sharing of existing data there are many external tools that you can utilize with Google Earth The table below is not an exhaustive but consist of tools that have been tried and tested Look at the task to locate what you need to do follow the link and the online instructions for each op al Task Name Website c S Reduce the a number of LW intermediate Goalies www geo news net x points of an line mier eeaim D in order to speed Q up the calculation 8 Enable mapping Mpi www cpc unc edu measure tools of administrative Ec E monitoring evaluation systems regio ndata Earth E2G 9 geographic information systems erel iS Buffering algorithm upload point lines GeoUtilities www geo news net index_geof html and polygons Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Task Name Website Calculate the area of GeouUtilities www geo news net index_geof html the buffer z Allow the polygon features of one layer to be overlaid on the polygon point or line features of another layer GeouUtilities www geo news net index_geof html Export point line and polygon shapefiles with more attribute data
35. may be cited copied adapted translated and further distributed for non commercial purposes without prior permission from MapAction provided the original source is clearly stated MapAction Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping MapAction Second Edition July 2011 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Preface How to use this field guide There are now many possible ways to create maps for humanitarian work with an ever growing range of hardware and software tools available This can be a problem for humanitarian field workers who want to collect and share mappable data and make simple maps themselves during an emergency This guide aims to explain a limited range of tried and tested methods suitable for humanitarian field work using free or low cost tools The main requirements are a PC an internet connection to download the software and data you need before you go into the field and a little time to practice using the various tools A GPS unit or maybe a satellite phone with built in GPS is a very useful extra item if you have one or can get access to one Where to start The guide is written in modular chapters with the aim that you can start in different places depending on your level of prior knowledge The guide contains tutorials on the use of two alternative mapping toolkits Google Earth Chapter 4 and an open source GIS software package called Quantum GIS Chapter 5 There is also a section on using a GPS
36. of data The folder structure is numbered to allow easy sorting and additional folders which are created take the next number available in the sequence QGIS A good folder structure allows you to keep data files in a structured and ordered fashion and gives a new user information about the stage of data processing on the data lt gt Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping An example of the folder structure used by MapAction is as follows GIS Tasking Original Data Active Data Mapping 0_GIS_Tasking This folder contains various tasks and could be a check list of what needs completing 1 Original Data This folder contains data found originally on the area of work A folder is created for each new data source found 2_Active_Data This folder contains operational datasets This data has been assessed and thought fit for purpose The data has been processed and renamed according to your Data Naming Convention see file naming below For example a transport dataset may have been split into roads railways airports 3_Mapping This folder contains all maps whether obtained from 3rd party resoutces or created by you Project files are also stored in this folder whether from Google earth QGIS or your chosen software 2 5 2 File naming In storing your data it is advisable to chose a symbolic name to identify the data easily both for your use in the future and when sharing data with colleagues When naming files in MapAction
37. or USB cable to connect your GPS device to your computer If you do not have a cable visit your manufacturers web site to purchase the correct cable for your model Mapping When your GPS data is imported into Google Earth it is categorised into three possible folders depending upon the type of data Humanitarian Routes Route points are those points Tracks Waypoints Points are automatically Waypoints are points entered recorded by the GPS manually by the user For that the GPS device uses to device periodically along example hospitals or airfields create the routing such as the recorded route Eg when you instruct the device to 32 2 8 8 T O paths roads go to a recorded point from another recorded point 4 5 2 Importing GPS Data 2 If you are using a Garmin device and a Windows smemo ie I 3 computer install the driver from the CD that came rori Ree with the GPS or download it from the Garmin web Devoe Comin site er 1 Using the cable connect the GPS to the computer We waran and turn the GPS on Imeort Waypoints Y Wade 2 On the computer screen select Tools gt GPS gt Nag Import veut I oa Trads I Lnestings 3 Select the correct manufacturer for your device Y Adjust stotudes to ground heght 4 Under Import select the type of data you want Google Earth 5 Under Op ons select drawing preferences Create clickable image assigns icons to the track route po
38. or from a web site It completely integrates with the terrain or shape of the land beneath if the terrain layer is turned on 86 gt www mapaction org 4 4 2 Advanced image overlays Contents To edit an image overlay further open its dialogue box Right click Over ay in the Places panel and select properties Tip To determine the size in pixels of an image display the image file ina Windows Explorer window Right click CTRL click on the Mac and select Properties from the pop up menu Mapping Change position settings Humanitarian Select the Location Tab in Properties 1 Manual coordinates for each corner of the image overlay You set coordinates for each corner of the image overlay For more on coordinates see Appendix B Data Collection 2 Fitto Screen Resize the image to fit the current view Try positioning the center of the image as a reference point first and then use the Shift key in combination with one of the anchors to scale the image for best positioning Tip When using multiple image overlays on the same region set a drawing order GPS Updates for time sensitive imagery The refresh tab sets the correct refresh properties for your overlay imagery Most imagery that is updated automatically and located on a server will need refresh properties set Select the Refresh Tab in Properties Opening overlays emailed to you Double click on the attachment in the email messag
39. save regularly especially if you are in the field with no poor power supply and may have to move quickly File gt Save gt navigate to folder and assign name gt Save It is important to note that a saved project file does not contain any map data The project file contains references to map data as well as other information such as the data s symbology 5 3 Data How might I use this In humanitarian mapping data falls into categories background and situational For more information on data sources please see chapter 1 and 2 of the user guide Background data can be time consuming to collect and organise If you are working in disaster management then download and obtain as much data as you can beforehand try to ensure it is correctly spatially referenced and perform any necessary data organisation see chapter 1 for an explanation Situation data is current information about the emergency At the beginning of a disaster you may have very little but it might include field hospitals evacuation centres road status bridges Other situation data may come in the form of statistics The number of people affected deaths and injuries All tend to be collected at the level of admin unit district etc or p code unique reference codes for individual communities It is useful to think about the types of maps you want to create each map should be focused on a particular purpose to ensure clarity of information D www mapact
40. to give extra functions Some GIS software packages have extensive libraries of plug ins available Oom www mapaction org Point feature A feature representing a singular object for example a water well or the nominal centte of a village A point feature has no dimensions so is described using a single set of coordinates Polygon feature A feature representing an enclosed object such as a lake or a government district The area of a polygon feature can be calculated It will be drawn as a boundary line with several changes of direction at a number of vertices Projection system A projection system is a coordinate system that allows the data to be displayed on a flat surface such as a printed map or on a computer screen Corrections are made by software to account for the curvature of the Earth s surface ProVention Consortium An international coalition working on topics related to disaster risk reduction Quantum GIS QGIS A powerful GIS software suite available for download free of charge QGIS is explored in detail in chapter 5 of this guide Raster data Spatial data in which the Earth s surface is depicted by an image This can include a scanned map The name raster comes from the type of scanning process used A raster image is made up of many individual cells but discrete features are not contained in the file Raster grid A rectangular grid of pixels comprising a raster data set Spatial data Data that contains refe
41. 130 131 133 135 135 135 136 139 140 141 141 141 143 147 www mapaction org 1 1 Chapter 1 An introduction to mapping for humanitarian operations Introduction to chapter 1 Humanitarian emergencies necessitate the fast and effective use and sharing of geographical information Sophisticated computer based Geographical Information Systems GIS have been available for over a decade but humanitarian organisations at first found them problematic to deploy and use New more streamlined and accessible computer based tools make mapping technologies potentially useable by agencies and NGOs at field level There is a growing demand from humanitarian practitioners for guidance on how to use these tools in their work This guide is about humanitarian mapping and also about sharing and using geographical data in non map forms It is intended for use by aid workers in the field or at headquarters Many of the techniques should be equally useful in development as well as humanitarian work The contents of this guide are intended primarily for use by humanitarian organisations in their own operations but can also be used as a basis for training within beneficiary communities There is great potential for communities in hazard prone areas to use map based methods to enhance disaster resilience and MapAction strongly advocates the use of these techniques in disaster risk reduction initiatives these are explored later in this chapter
42. 28316 This is measured zp the map For example 0661965 5728316 The X coordinate comes before the Y This particular notation assumes the UTM zone is already known but it s not a bad idea to state this also Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 3 3 2 Datums Datums are parameters within the GPS which set a known location as an origin for the coordinate system in use We recommend that you always use WGS84 unless you are advised to do otherwise 3 4 Types of data you can collect using the GPS There are two basic types of data that you can collect and store within the memory of your GPS They are waypoints sometimes called points or placemarks in Google Earth and tracklogs or tracks Some GPS can also store paths or routes but these are less useful Waypoints WPs are a record of a specific point on the ground that you have visited On most GPS you press a Mark ot Enter button then save The GPS then saves the coordinates at that point and allocates a sequential number e g 001 to that WP You need to note down separately what is of interest at that waypoint see Recording your data section 3 6 Some GPS units allow you to record a more accurate position this is done by using the averaging function when a waypoint is marked The averaging function takes a series points over a short period of time as it calculates its position The most accurate way is start the averaging and then place the GPS on the ground
43. A Se DDN N AN e ON K Tee Ve a NY ESY EaR N UL af IS ge cf gues zi r me E i eN Fs pAr Ne Z IA SS INY N F 2 G o tiraa a l h M iy pa S AS R SSS 7 BN S FNE DEIZI ANS y 4 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Second Edition 2011 This field guide was produced by MapAction to help humanitarian otganisations to make use of mapping methods using Geographic Information Systems GIS and related technologies About MapAction MapAction has since 2003 become the most experienced international NGO in using GIS and related matters in the field in sudden onset natural disasters as well as complex MapAction emergencies When disaster strikes a region a MapAction team arrives quickly at the scene and creates a stream of unique maps that depict the situation as the crisis unfolds Aid agencies rely on these maps to coordinate the relief effort MapAction regularly gives training and guidance to staff of aid organisations at national regional and global levels in using geospatial methods This second edition of the Field Guide expands the content of the highly successful first edition published in 2009 For further details on MapAction emergency maps or to make a donation please visit www mapaction org or email info mapaction org Lime Farm Office Little Missenden Bucks HP7 ORQ UK Copyright 2011 MapAction Any part of this field guide
44. Contents Humanitarian Mapping 4 1 Introduction what is Google Earth 4 1 1 Using Google Earth Data Collection Google Earth is a free product which allows you to view and explore the whole of the earth s surface and other geographical information such as settlement names roads and thematic information As well as the information provided via Google themselves it is possible to use Google Earth as a platform to view and map spatial data that you collect yourself or obtain from partner organisations in appropriate formats Clete Google Earth maps the Earth s surface by displaying satellite images and aerial photography of varying spatial resolution this means the distance on the ground represented by each pixel or grid cell in the image The degree of resolution available varies between more and less economically developed regions but most land is covered in at least 15 meters of resolution Google Earth also has digital terrain model data collected by NASA s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SRTM this allows you to view the terrain in three dimensions Google Earth is a Web Map Service WMS client this means it uses geographical information to create maps of spatially referenced data and adheres to international standards 2S LL Ac D O e Google Earth supports managing three dimensional geospatial data through Keyhole Markup Language KML e Google Earth images vary in detail according to
45. L here You may wish to display a link to your organisation s website Description adds any notes you wish to add that provide extra information about your data to aid easy recognition of the particular table is displaying The default entry is the time date and source spreadsheet of the data Click Finish Your selected spreadsheet data is now displayed in Google Fusion Tables New empty table Click New table gt New empty table A blank table is displayed with default column names described below Inputting data Text Add a text label to the row for identification or to convey extra information about your data Number Identify each piece of data with a number for ease of data handling Location The coordinates of the particular piece of data which can then be used for visualisation on a map Note Google Fusion Tables recognises location details if entered in the correct format This will automatically become the Location column Degrees minutes seconds and decimal degrees are both recognisable formats Date For example the date the particular data was collected tabulated Note any number of columns can be added to display whatever data is necessary to your operational needs D www mapaction org Adding comments to your data fields Hovering the cursor over a data field in the table will display this icon a Click it to add a comment to your data This enables you to add extra information about your data that you
46. Landsat data are the USGS s Earth Explorer and the University of Maryland s Global Land Cover Facility Images from the MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite are made available for some areas in a particularly easy to use format via NASA s Rapid Response system There is a trade off the spatial resolution is relatively low at 250 metres but the temporal resolution is very high with a one day repeat time for most of the earth Further advantages are next day availability of images for certain subset regions and provision in a simple JPG format that can be opened and viewed in GIS software including Quantum GIS without any processing Typical humanitarian related applications are seasonal changes in vegetation monitoring of burned areas in tropical grassland and bushland and an approximate but quick indication of flood extents These images also make good material for training courses being so readily downloaded and viewed and showing interesting information Sources Google Earth Earth Explorer Global Land Cover Facility GLCF MODIS Rapid Response www mapaction org Population Contents Basic demographic data numbers of people are often a key factor in humanitarian work In a disaster a rough estimate of the number of people affected by an event can quickly be made by overlaying existing population data with the extent of the disaster This estimate is crude but helps
47. MS format For more information on coordinate formats see Appendix B The most recent search terms are saved in the search entry history indicated by the small black triangle on the right of the search input Tip Currently street level searching is limited to certain countries Try to use coordinates where possible for accuracy To clear search results click on the Car button at the bottom of the search results listing x Tip To view the Earth back from top down press U or click on N on the navigation tool Activity One To navigate in Google Earth you need to be able to drag zoom tilt and rotate the view 1 Drag the view using the mouse or navigation controls so you are directly over the Falkland Islands 2 Zoom in and out to see how much detail Google has for this location 3 Tilt the view so you are looking at the Falkland Islands from a low angle 4 Rotate the view to give a different perspective of the Falkland Islands To find locations you can also use the F y To Tab 1 Type the Falkland Islands into the tab and click on Search 2 Type in the latitude and longitude in DMS format for Port Stanley Falkland Islands 57 47 41 S 57 49 12 Wand click on Search 4 1 7 Display tools Contents How might I use this You can customise your Google Earth software to suit the type of work you are doing For example in a relatively low lying region you may want to change the terrain scale elevation
48. Physical Protected areas national parks etc WDPA Land cover change fire flooding MODIS Rainfall TRMM GSMaP QGIS Land Use GLC2000 1 MODIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Physical see also Environmental Aspects 1 MODIS T Soil and geology Soil Map Archive T Rivers HydroSHEDS Rivers African Water Resource Database AWRD Points of Interest NGA GNS Google MapMaker 2 4 Datasets and data sources African Water Resource Database AWRD www fao org fishery collection awrd en A set of data and custom designed tools programmed to run under ArcView 3 combined in a GIS aimed at facilitating responsible inland aquatic resource management with specific focus on inland fisheries and aquaculture The site plays host to many links to other relevant organisations and websites Surface waterbodies watersheds aquatic species rivers political boundaries population density soils satellite imagery and many other physiographic and climatological data as well as a plethora of literature can be reached using both internal and external links AfriPop www afripop ore Fine resolution satellite imagery derived settlement maps ate combined with land covet maps to reallocate contemporary census based spatial population count data The production of the Afripop dataset uses simple and semi automated methods with the operational application in mind Population data for individual African nations is a
49. Provides access to various QGIS features using a standard hierarchical menu Most menu options have a corresponding tool 111 Features of QGIs QGIS is released under the GNU General Public License QGIS currently runs on most Unix platforms Windows Prete OND View and overlay vector and raster data in different formats and projections including PostgreSQL tables ESRI shapefiles Maplnfo SDTS GeoTiff Erdas Img ArcInfo Ascii Grid JPEG PNG GRASS WMS WES and Open Street Map Explore data and compose maps Create edit manage and export data in several formats Analyse data including vector analysis sampling geoprocessing geometry and database management tools Publish maps on the Internet Extend functionality through plugins Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Toolbar Provides access to most of the same functions as the menu plus additional tools for interacting with the map Hold mouse over the item and a short description of the tool s purpose will be displayed Map Legend How might I use this Tip Restoring Toolbars If you have accidentally hidden all your toolbars you can get them back by choosing Menu Bar gt View gt Toolbars The map legend area is used to set the visibility z ordering of layers and adding layer groups Layers x Visibility The checkbox in each legend entry can OTET be used to show or hide the layer amp GB Hai
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51. Types of data you can collect using the GPS 56 E 3 5 Suggestions on how to use GPS to collect data 57 3 6 Recording your data 58 3 7 Back at base 59 c 3 8 GPS Utility 60 3 8 1 Connect to GPS or GPS Utility 60 5 3 3 8 2 Downloading data from GPS to GPSU 60 8 3 8 3 Saving data 60 3 8 4 Uploading data to a GPS 61 3 9 GPS base maps 61 3 10 Final thoughts 61 op Appendix 3A GPS checklist 62 D Appendix 3B Waypoint recording sheet 63 Appendix 3C Examples of GPS unit functions 64 Appendix 3D GPS and Smartphones 65 c Chapter 4 Google Earth for Humanitarian Mapping S 4 How to use chapter 4 66 m 4 1 Introduction to chapter 4 what is Google Earth 67 5 4 1 1 Using Google Earth 67 2 4 1 2 Viewing the Globe 69 aD 4 1 3 Changing Languages 69 4 1 4 Important technical points to note 70 4 1 5 Using the navigation controls 70 4 1 6 Finding places and directions 71 2 4 1 7 Display tools 73 eS 4 1 8 Using the overview map 73 O 4 1 9 Viewing preferences 74 4 1 10 Viewing a location in Google Maps 74 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 2 Layers 75 4 2 1 Basic layers 75 4 2 2 Terrain elevation 76 4 3 Adding new features 76 4 3 1 Create and edit folders and placemarks 76 4 3 2 Quick guide how to create and edit folders and placemarks 77 4 3 3 Advanced folders and placemarks 80 4 3 4 HTML 82 4 3 5 Basic tools Creating a path or polygon 83 4 3 5 Basic tools Measurements 84 4 4 Using image overlays 85 4 4 1 Image overlay basic
52. U allows GPS data waypoints tracks and routes to be transfer to and from many GPS The free version restricts the number of waypoints and the length of tracklog that can be transferred at once 3 8 1 Connect to GPS to GPS Utility 1 Connect GPS to laptop typically via a USB cable older versions may be via a serial cable and switch the GPS on 2 Start GPSU Go to GPS gt Setup 4 In the dialogue box choose the Interface Options that are correct for you specific GPS unit and click OK pa 3 8 2 Downloading data from GPS to GPSU 1 Next go to GPS gt Connect If connected GPSU will display a message at the bottom of the screen e g CONNECTED to GPSMap60CX Software Version 4 00 via USB 2 Next go to GPS gt Download All A GPS transfer dialog will displayed Select the data type Waypoints Proximity Waypoints Routes Tracks and Current Position Time and click OK The data will then be displayed The data can then be displayed in its raw format with GPSU by clicking any of the following buttons xE Waypoints gt Routes Tracks yl Track Summary Ka Map The coordinate system and datum can be changed in GPSU by clicking the buttons at the top left corner Info I Lat Long DM wGS 84 3 8 3 Saving data To save your data simply go to File gt Save as gt give a file name and select a file type GPS Utility can save in multiple formats including txt gpx kml dbf and shp For this reason i
53. a management Geometry Refers to the locations part of a spatial dataset particularly of a shapefile When editing a shape e g the line of a road you are editing the geometry Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Geotags Spatial references added to data to allow it to be mapped For example adding coordinate information to the header file of a photograph Georeferenced Data that has been augmented to allow it to be used in a GIS Its precise geographic location is specified For example an aerial photo with a worldfile attached GIS viewer A software package that allows you to view spatial data and assemble it into a simple map however usually without the means to edit or analyse the data GIS editor A software package that allows you to manipulate and change your spatial data For example to add new locations to a dataset of clinics or to change a boundary line between two districts GIS analysis Tools give the ability to answer questions about the data and to create new tabulated or visual outputs Global Positioning System GPS The satellite based system operated by the US Government that allows users with suitable GPS receivers to locate and record their position GPS usage is covered in detail in chapter 3 of this guide Google Earth A software tool and online global spatial database available free from Google Google Earth is covered in detail in chapter 4 of this guide Grid type raster See raster
54. ailed in section 5 8 2 By selecting the X and Y coordinate columns in the dialogue window QGIS is able to map the points as a shapefile ar ki ive lei rae E F 6 TER E 1 18 56651 723506 19 A4PHK 11 10 58 30AM Moderate 2 2 2 1852226 72 2988 19 APR 11 3 26 11PM Poor 3 3 3 18 60252 72 3218 LL MAY 11 10 52 25AM5 Moderate a a 4 WOOT 72 3227 Lie MAY 11 IUILLSSAMS Moderate 5 5 5 1946434 72 6786 1353 MAY 11 11 37 53AM Moderate 6 6 19 46439 72 0705 1J MAY 11 1140 44AM Good 9 ier hoe eer eee OOE s EJ 9 19 45372 72 0897 I3 MAY 11 127 20 41PM Good 9 10 10 19 45325 72 6903 13 MAY 11 1241 28PM Poor 10 u 22 19 45321 72 6906 13 MAV 11 1D42 34PM Poor u n 32 19446000 72 0958 13 MAY 11 12 55 54PM Good 12 nb 33 19 43952 72 6902 15 MAY 11 1 12 54PM Good u m J4 19 43664 72 6818 1I3 MAY 11 1 32 10PM Good i 15 15 19 4455 72 6858 13 MAY 11 D49 43PM Moderate 15 16 16 19 45975 72 6799 13 MAY 11 2 12 35PM Poor 16 17 P 5 9 Attribute data How might I use this Attribute data is an array of information associated with each layer in your GIS project It can include anything you wish to add such as dates locations assessment reports names survey data and so on 5 9 1 Creating an attributes table Ensure you have a vector layer loaded into QGIS It may be polygons waypoints or polyline In this example waypoints have been used to create a layer entitled Points of Interest Right click Layer gt Open Attribute Table Rap
55. al administrative areas and are automatically coloured according to values assigned to them D www mapaction org Heat map Contents Visualize gt Map gt check Display as heat map The Heat Map visualisation is based on the density of points from a data table Very closely clustered points appear hotter on a map than sparsely distributed points The effectiveness of this feature relies on the map being viewed from a small scale perspective encompassing a very large area This means it has limited suitability in humanitarian mapping but aspects may be utilised depending on your operational needs Humanitarian Mapping 4 9 3 Exporting data as a KML for use in Google Earth Once you are satisfied that the Data Collection data in your Google Fusion Table has been mapped correctly and you are happy with the configuration of the Information Windows and general overall format you can SA export it as a KML file which i tie A eevee cone can be viewed in Google Earth Clete Visualize gt Map gt Export to KML An automatic download of the KML file will take place and it will become available in your Downloads folder or equivalent Remember to move this file and store it in accordance with your data handling conventions The KML can be Double clicked to automatically open Google Earth and display the data stored within it LS LL Ac D 0 The KML file appears in a folder named Fusion
56. al datasets available for Google Earth Contents www ambiotek com 1kmrainfall Rainfall climatology maps based on the analysis of the full TRMM dataset from 1997 to 2006 They are available in kmz format for viewing in Google Earth Find the nearest waypoint and follow the link in the balloon to download the sub tile which arrives as an image overlay Humanitarian Mapping University of Texas Perry Castafieda Library Map Collection scanned maps Data Collection US Army Map Service Topographic Map Series www lib utexas edu maps ams T Joint Operations Graphic maps 1 250 000 www lib utexas edu maps jog A library of maps created by the US army The files here are scanned maps and can be saved as JPGs There is also a large resource of Google Earth compatible maps GPS VMAP Recommended alternative Natural Earth See MapAbility and NGA for VMAP download sites World Database on Protected Areas WDPA T Protectedplanet net 25 LU A D A web based viewer displaying the world s national parks wilderness areas and world heritage sites Points of interest and diversity data can be accessed QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 2 4 1 Obtaining downloadable MODIS data The URL http lance nasa gov imagery rapid response is one of many that can be found in the list above Registering an account In order to begin downloading MODIS data from LANCE Land Atmosphere Ne
57. and Environmental Sciences Kester Riley of Riley Trading Limited The first edition of this field guide was published in 2009 and has been used by a broad spectrum of humanitarian and development organisations seeking practical and low cost ways to exploit geospatial methods in their work In response to demand MapAction is delighted to issue this second edition Several chapters are expanded to meet users requests for more detail particularly on where to find map data Also the Guide now gives step by step guidance on the use of Quantum GIS QGIS an open source software toolkit that has gone from strength to strength in its reliability and appropriateness for field use This guide has been compiled from MapAction s experience in disaster preparedness and relief operations drawn from many training sessions and disaster emergency missions however every situation is different We greatly value comments and suggestions and we will do our best to answer your questions about using GIS and GPS for humanitarian mapping in the field please email info mapaction org Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS LS LU a D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Contents Preface Acknowledgements Contents Chapter 1 An Introduction to Humanitarian Mapping 1 1 Introduction to chapter 1 1 2 How are maps useful in humanitarian work 1 3 What mapping tools can my organisatio
58. aps are made by combining spatial data layers to EE www mapaction org Terrain Contents Hills and valleys can be represented by a digital elevation model DEM which can create a contour map layer Google Earth has a terrain model built in A commonly used DEM for GIS work is that derived from the Shuttle Remote Topography Mission SRTM dataset which is freely available from NASA Remotely sensed images Humanitarian Mapping These comprise satellite or aerial photography The images must be processed and georeferenced before they can be used Base maps These could be a scanned raster image of a paper map Or built up from a series of vector data layers roads rivers settlements etc Data Collection Administrative boundaries Vector files showing the various levels of the country s administrative geography provinces districts etc are often essential This is because much situational information of humanitarian relevance is collected via the normal administrative apparatus of the country to map for example disease incidence by district it is necessary to have map data showing the district boundaries GPS Human and situation data Typically the most important data on operational maps will be the situation data This may include locations of the beneficiary population of aid resources and so on This may be data you collect yourself or obtain from partners It should be linked to your other wo
59. ar real time Capability for EOS Earth Observing System a short registration form must be completed to obtain a username and password This username and password will work across the LANCE site encompassing a range of instruments allowing the download of data from AMSR E AIRS MLS MODIS and OMI Note Before beginning the registration process ensure you have a valid and appropriate email account as further instructions and an account activation link is sent to the user by email To create a user account Either visit http lance nasa gov and use the Sg Up button at the bottom of the page direct link https users eosdis nasa gov urs welcome dorappVar LANCE Or Roll the mouse over DATA PRODUCTS and select MODIS from the menu bar that appears below it In the box titled Data Products on the right of the screen you will notice there is a bulleted list of options under MODIS Select Download Instructions by clicking the link About halfway down the page that appears you will see the instruction to register together with the link EOSDIS User Registration System Follow the link to the registration form and fill it out Once your details have been submitted using the button at the bottom of the form an email will be sent to the address specified T www mapaction org Log in to your email inbox and click the link in the automated response from LANCE from the email address esdis users noreply users eos
60. are gives options to show grid lines or border markings for various coordinate systems Choose what will be most useful to your users if they have their GPS receivers set to UTM then make that the map grid gt www mapaction org Final thoughts on cartography practical map making in the field Contents Although it is a good discipline to apply all the above principles you should not of course allow cartographic aesthetics to slow up the creation and issuing of maps that are important in an emergency You can often combine several computer and other tools to add information to basic maps for example take a screen print of a map created using GIS software and import it into Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe Photoshop to add more graphics and annotations or even use a marker pen Humanitarian Mapping 1 10 Community level mapping techniques Community level mapping is a powerful method for disaster risk mitigation and preparedness It is driven by input from the beneficiary participants this benefits the plan output with a broader overview of the area while allowing the community to be involved Local people can using simple maps that they have created quickly see and analyse important patterns in the risks they face Data Collection Computer based tools are not essential for community risk mapping At their core maps are visual expressions of measurements You can compile sketches data from assessments and notes i
61. backup As with other documents you can create links or references to KMZ files for easy access Saving data to a server To make your placemarks or folders available to other people via a server you need to first save the file to the appropriate location Network server To save a folder or placemark to a location on your network simply save the file in a location on your organization s network rather than to yout local file system Web server To save a Placemark or folder to a web server first save the file to your local computer Once the file is saved on your local computer as a separate KMZ file you can use an FTP or similar utility to transfer the file to the web servers Opening data from a network server If you are working in an organization where place data is saved to a network that you have access to you can open that data in the same way you would open a saved KMZ file on your local computer navigate to the network and locate the KML file 94 gt www mapaction org Creating a network link Contents Add gt Network Link gt Type in the Name field and enter the full path of the KMZ file in the Link field or browse to the file location if the file is located on a network You can use a URL to reference the KMZ The 3D viewer immediately flies to the default view for the linked data Mapping Tip The text you enter in this description is your description of the link only and is not viewable by anyone else
62. can be used by itself for reference using any photo viewing software It can further be annotated and shared in programmes such as PowerPoint or PhotoShop However to overlay other data in a GIS the image must be georegistered that is it must have geographical coordinates These are usually contained in a small ancillary world file a jpg scan would have a jew world file for example Fortunately most of the sources listed here provide scans that are already georegistered specific notes for different data sources are given in the next section QGIS If you have map scans or photographs that are not already georegistered then this process can be done either using GIS software including Quantum GIS or in a more approximate way using Google Earth see Section 4 4 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Sources Russian scanned topographic maps MapStor PoeHali 1 University of Texas Perry Castafieda Library Map Collection Settlements Settlements refers to a wide range of places where people live from large cities and country capitals through towns and villages to loosely defined rural habitations They are a feature of most maps whether for orientation and reference like cities and large towns on a country map or for more detailed operational planning and navigation on a local map Settlement datasets are also used for pin pointing locations in humanitarian work For example a message comes in reporti
63. ccessed quickly and simply by selecting a country on an overview map The user is then directed to a raster map of that country with associated metadata and blow ups of areas of interest Download is achieved by submitting a short form The file arrives as a 27p with a it and a hdr enclosed ASTER GDEM T wist echo nasa gov Requires the user to create an account Lengthy but incredibly detailed search to define parameters Data must be ordered and paid for GED www mapaction org ArcGIS Online T www arcgis com A simple to use but very powerful map creator The basemap can be defined as practically anything with the option add an indefinite number of layers The layers can be chosen from a precompiled list in ArcGIS Online from resources on the web or from a user specified GIS server The final map can be downloaded printed or shared by linking it to another party There are extensive help files to get you started using ArcGIS online Cloudmade OSM 1 downloads cloudmade com OSM XML Garmin map files Osmosis country bounding polygon Shapefiles Navit maps GPX POI TomTom POI and adobe illustrator files can all be downloaded from Cloudmade There is also a resource for downloadable mapping tools See section 2 4 2 for detailed data downloading instructions CIESIN www ciesin columbia edu An extensive list of data sources from many suppliers Categories include but not limited to economic activity env
64. ce Windows and Linux Tools gt Options gt 3D View Modify the Exvation Exaggeration value 4 2 3 Other layers of interest are King s College London s Collection of KML databases http www kcl ac uk schools sspp geography research emm geodata Real time severe weather monitoring products from WDSS II The Warning Decision Support System Integrated Information http wdssii nssl noaa gov geotiff_new Activity Three Zoomto Tumbledown Canada and experiment selecting and deselecting various layers Exaggerate the elevation to 1 5 and practice tilting the 3D Viewer 4 3 Adding new features 4 3 1 Create and edit folders and placemarks How might I use this You will probably want to record specific places that are important in your field work for example locations of affected groups of people or resources such as health clinics A placemark is a point of interest on your map They are like push pins and could be used to locate where key facilities are Google Earth lets you create as many placemarks as you wish and give them appropriate symbols and labels This means you can create and share maps of your relief activities Left of the 3D viewer is your P aces panel which is split into Temporary and permanent P aces You can organize your data in the P aces panel in a way similar to how you would organise files and folders on your computer s hard drive When you first start Google Earth the P aces panel contains an empt
65. cking and y Layers Earth Gallery gt unchecking it in the Layers panel You can j me Pinar Databuse k save any point of interest POT displayed in amp WP Borders and Labels the 3D viewer to the My Places folder by 7 E Places ay Right clickine CTRL clicking on the Mac Photos y vi EE Roads on the placemark in the viewer and 3 GY 30 Buildings 5 selecting Save to My Places from the pop up amp D ocean O menu a E x Weather Oo t DEJ Gallery O To adjust the icon size Click Toods gt Options a J Global Awareness gt 3D The icon size is set in the Labels Icon Le BD More size area If you are having problems seeing your POI zoom straight in Icons like road data appear at different elevations and not all icons appear from an extended elevation In addition zooming in to a lower elevation often resolves the problem of icons that appear to overlap when viewed from a higher elevation erei Tip Layers will take longer to load with the terrain layer switched on Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 2 2 Terrain elevation When you tilt your view you can see the 3D effect of the elevation data and by default it is showing elevation at the same scale as the horizontal map scale However the effect may not be visible and you can increase the exaggeration of height by setting it to any value from 1 the default to 3 A useful setting is 1 5 which achieves an obvious yet natural elevation appearan
66. cks Menu gt Tracks gt Clear Press Enter button and hold down until Mark Waypoint screen appears Record waypoint number on sheet Press Enter to confirm and save The eTrex automatically records tracks Ensure you have cleared previous saved tracks before you begin a new project Press Page button until you reach the Menu screen Select Waypoints Choose the waypoint to which you want to navigate Select GOTO to start navigation mode www mapaction org Appendix 3D GPS and Smartphones GPS in smartphones is becoming more popular and increasingly more accurate with some good and useful tools It should be noted though that when the GPS function on a smartphone is being used the battery life is dramatically reduced 5 hours is probably the maximum Smartphones should only be used for recording waypoints and data collection when there is no alternative and you know you will be able to recharge the batteries reliably Below are a few GPS applications that can be used on smartphones Android Market Maverick A good all round app http www codesector com maverick php GPS Essentials Another good app and free https market android com details id com mictale gpsessentials amp feature search_result GPS Status and Toolbox Good little utilitarian app https market android com details id com eclipsim gpsstatus2 amp feature search_result Android Apple Blackberry Windows Market Google Lati
67. collapsible or expandable 5 5 1 Changing the layer name Changing the name of a layer does not affect the underlying data only the layer in that particular project Right click Layer gt Rename 5 5 2 Changing the drawing order The layers are drawn from bottom up so the first layer in the legend is the top layer of the map It important to carefully order your map layers so that important data is not obscured by layers placed on top Click and drag a layer to the desired location 5 5 3 Removing a layer from the map Removing a layer does not remove or delete the underlying data Right click Layer gt Remove www mapaction org 5 6 Vector properties Contents The Layer Properties dialog for a vector layer provides information about the layer symbology settings and labeling options 5 6 1 Map layer symbolisation When adding a new map layer to the user s project a default symbol will be automatically generated You can reset this to your preferred symbology Humanitarian Mapping Access the Layer Properties by double clicking on the layer name in the Layers window or Right click Layer gt Properties gt Style gt select symbol gt Apply gt OK Data Collection 5 6 2 Adding a label to a layer Labels are an easy way to add dynamic textual labels to geometric features on the map QGIS will extract a user defined field from the map data to be used as the label text GPS Right click Layer g
68. condemning some of the most deserving to death or destitution John Holmes UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs 2007 2010 Of all the information needed in an emergency the where dimension is of crucial importance aid in the wrong place is no help at all Humanitarian emergencies typically affect large areas and often require responding organisations to make sense of unfamiliar geographical environments Maps become important as tools to plan and coordinate relief interventions In the preparation of this guide MapAction discussed the needs for mapping and spatial information with users from a range of NGOs and humanitarian agencies as well as drawing on MapAction s own experience in the field during emergencies Some of the insights gained are explored here The use of maps is not of course limited to the post disaster response phase Maps ate a prerequisite for understanding natural hazards and communities vulnerability to them Risk assessment by communities themselves can be supported by mapping tools including low or no tech methods involving little more than sketches using paper and pencil These methods are explored a little more in section 1 8 In the pre disaster context we would like to map vulnerability and develop baselines for it The data for these baselines would include scientific hazard data and the outputs from qualitative assessments at community leve
69. cons or image overlays from your local file system those items are included with the placemark data For this reason KMZ files that include imagery overlays might be larger than those containing a simple placemark You cannot send a placemark file to a user of a Google Earth Keyhole client version 2 2 or lower the file format for placemarks has changed for Google Earth versions 3 0 and higher Send an image file instead erei Tip On a Mac you can only email KML files through the Mail Eudora and Entourage applications Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Troubleshooting Email Issues If your email application does not respond to the Email View command you may need to set the default email program Windows Szart Menu gt Control Panel gt Internet Options gt Programs Tab Select the default email program that you use from the E mail drop down list and click Apph Mac Open Mail Click Mail gt Preferences Pick the email application you would prefer as your default email handler 4 6 3 Sharing data over a network In addition to saving placemarks or folders to your local computer you can also save place data to a web server or network server Other Google Earth users who have access to the server can then use the data Storing a placemark file on the network or on a web server means you will have better accessibility to your data ease of distribution automatic updates to network people with network access and a
70. d or Transparent Layers fields with available layers from the WMS you choose 4 Choose the appropriate layer s and click Add gt to add the layer s to the Selected Layers field This places this information in the WMS image overlay in Google Earth To remove a layer from the Sekcted Layers field select it and click gt Remove 5 When you are finished click OK and continue as you would with an image overlay 4 5 GPS and Google Earth Please see Chapter 3 of this Field Guide for a more detailed introduction to using a GPS for humanitarian mapping How might I use this If you have been on a field assessment or have obtained data from someone who has you can import it into Google Earth and create a map making any planning and data sharing much easier If you are using a device that is not supported within Google Earth you can try importing GPS data from the device to your computer using free GPS software GPSU or GPSTrackmaker GPS devices currently supported within Google Earth Garmin Magellan Wintec WBT 201 GPS Data Logger CBE gt www mapaction org 4 5 1 Using GPS Devices with Google Earth Contents The Global Positioning System GPS is a satellite based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites GPS works in any weather conditions anywhere in the world If you have a GPS device you can connect it to your computer and import your waypoint and track data into Google Earth You need either a serial
71. data with other people including both users and non users of Google Earth You can share your places data by emailing an image emailing places data sharing data over a network and creating a network link Tip You can share places information with other Google Earth users via the Google Earth Community BBS website See Appendix 4 Humanitarian Mapping Emailing an image You can email the current view of the earth shown in the Google Earth 3D viewer as an image file for people who don t have Google Earth or a KMZ file for other users of Google Earth Data Collection When you email an image a JPEG file is automatically attached to an outbound email message When you email the view as a KMZ a KMZ file is automatically attached to an outbound email message Click File gt Email gt Email Image Or Click on the email icon on the toolbar and choose Emai Image GPS In the Select Email Service window choose your default email program or your Gmail account Wait while the Google Earth software sends the data to your email application A new email window appears with the image file This can take a few seconds The image is a JPG file of the current view in the 3D viewer Fill in the recipient s email address and any other information in the body and send the email Emailing Places data bs Lu 2 Right click on Placemark gt Email When you email KMZ files that reference custom i
72. date and location The date of an image is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the screen Urban area imagery tends to be of a higher resolution and is updated more frequently erel E You can use Google Earth online connected to the internet or offline provided you carry out some basic set up actions first See section 4 8 for more information on this Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Downloading Google Earth Minimum configurations for Google Earth downloads If you do not already have Google Earth installed on your computer go to the SEMAUR EE a following web page e 128 MB RAM http earth google com 12 7 MB free disk space Network speed 128 Kbit s e 16MB 3D capable graphics card e Resolution of 1024x768 16 bit High Colour e Windows XP or Windows 2000 Windows Vista Linux Mac OS X For use as a browser plug in e Firefox Safari 3 Internet Explorer 6 or 7 Google Earth is available in 23 languages Arabic Chinese Czech Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Hebrew Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Select the download option and follow the Braudel E SEE online instructions Google Earth Image providers If you experience problems installing DigitalGlobe Earthsat GEBCO Google Earth you can directly download GeoEye 1 GlobeExplorer the latest version of Google Earth from IKONOS Pictometry Sp
73. dis nasa gov Contents Your user account has now been activated and you may begin to download data To return to the LANCE page Click the LANCE Products link in the first option Humanitarian Mapping There are now several approaches to obtaining MODIS data from the LANCE archives In order to return to the Rapid Response page click the Rapid Response link seen in the text Data Collection There is a brief but informative description for each set of images together with a link to further menus from which particular imagery can be selected LANCE WMS Web Mapping Service LANCE WMS is a tool for quick access to desired locations for map data When first loaded the world map appears The image is by default the most recently uploaded data acquired by LANCE GPS Note Because of this the image may appear incomplete If this is the case use the next most recent data The WMS tool has a number of very simple controls These can be found onscreen as buttons Date appears above the image to the left of the screen This allows the user to enter the date for which they require data Either enter the date manually or use the calendar button next to the Date box to select desired G L A D month and day Current Base Layer appears above the image to the right of the screen It informs the user of which particular image is being used for the current base layer Click the link t
74. disk cache To do this 1 Click File gt Server Logout 2 Select Tools gt Options Google Earth gt Preferences on the Mac Click on the Cache tab 3 Click Delete Cache Files CRE www mapaction org 4 9 Google Fusion Tables How might I use this Fusion Tables is a service provided by Google with which tabulated data can be quickly and simply visualised in Google Maps and Google Earth To get started visit www google com fusiontables Home Note There is the option to Take a tour on the home page in order to familiarise yourself with some of the many features available You will need a Google account in order to begin creating data tables Log in with your username and password or if you do not have one follow onscreen instructions to create an account There are huge benefits in Fusion Tables being hosted online by Google Your data can be accessed from any computer with internet access using your account log in Data can be shared electronically with colleagues and other organisations who may then be invited to contribute or edit tables All controlled by you Customisable privacy settings meaning you can choose who can view your work and hide parts of visible tables as necessary Tables created by users and made public are available in a huge online catalogue These can be browsed and viewed by anyone The data you input can be instantly visualised on Google Maps Google Earth charts and timelines with just
75. dition of the Fieldguide to Humanitarian Mapping has a guide to MapWindow in Chapter 4 and can be requested at info mapaction org There is a tendency for international aid organisations to use several of the GIS mentioned above for different tasks Where the tools are free there is of course no direct cost penalty of doing this However it does take time to learn each software package and using multiple packages across an organisation may therefore not be very efficient www mapaction org 1 12 Case Study Contents The following is a fictitious description of how an NGO responding to a natural disaster might effectively use spatial data in its work during the emergency phase __ A severe earthquake has struck the developing country of Marginalia The international NGO Humanity In Need HIN is considering a disaster response programme and appeal HIN has an ongoing community water supply programme in Marginalia Their watsan engineers have over the past two years built up a dataset of bore holes with GPS coordinates In their country office one of the team has learned the basics of a free GIS software package She has also gathered various spatial data layers including a good rivers and streams dataset surveyed by a regional conservation institution She has shared these datasets with HIN s international headquarters where there is a small GIS department using ESRI ArcGIS software Humanitarian Mappi
76. e available essential services and land use zones Geographical location is an overview of the main features of the settlement and its surroundings fields roads infrastructure rivers and land use Define and prioritise geographic zones to assist with the development of highlighting areas at risk Creating the community risk map When drawing your community map try to keep the overall scale as accurate as you can but don t be too worried about this If in a vehicle use the odometer kilometre mileage counter if on foot keep an idea on how many steps you have taken Start from a known geographical point and work outwards from this in a logical way sketching in key locations first If you want to re use the sketch map at a later stage it is important that you use good quality paper It may help to use graph paper as a spatial reference For advice about map layouts symbols etc see section 1 7 1 11 GIS software recommendations Software that is used to create manage analyse and visualise geographic data is usually referred to by the general term GIS software In risk analysis of disasters emergency planning and response several different groups of GIS functions ate required Before any u a geographic analysis can take place or maps be produced the data needs to be a collected from field assessments maps gor satellite imagery or acquired from other data owners Data from new sources needs to be previewed and eventua
77. e previous directory In the upper left of the screen there is a drop down menu that can be used to apply vector data layers to the image There are several different combinations to choose from Once your choice is made click the Submit button Download options There is also a list of accompanying files and download options located above and to the left of the image Display metadata gives information about the data displayed in the image including the date it was acquired as mentioned in chapter 1 this can be important for validating the source gt www mapaction org On each subset image there is a link to Usage Guidelines on the upper right of the screen Ensure you are familiar with restrictions on using and publishing imagery contained within these archives and that the correct accreditation is Contents made Display World File and Display Projection File contains important information about the projection of the data which is required when combining several layers to ensure they are spatially accurate relative to each Mapping other Humanitarian Note the above actions take the user to a page that cannot be returned from so it is useful to Right click gt Open In New Window on these links Downloading a KMZ file for use in Google Earth Data Collection This is done on the selected subset image screen by clicking the link in the upper left corner Note Once link is clicked you may n
78. e Contents Humanitarian Data Collection Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping The following window will appear Attribute table PointsOfinterest 0 5 feature s selected As you can see in this example there is only a Name and Description field 5 9 2 Adding new columns to your table More columns can be added as required Columns can contain any information attributes you wish to add to your data Remember that columns containing coordinates are used by the software to map your points To add a column ensure editing is enabled by clicking the Toggle Editing button Click the New Column button Enter the details for the new column as follows Click OK The new column is added 2 Add Attribute Name SurveyBy Comment Type Text string string Width Precision ep www mapaction org 5 9 3 Editing your attributes table Contents Now you can start editing your layer attributes For example enter the name in the name field e g Latrine Tent Feeding Station Your attributes should look something like this Humanitarian Mapping Data Collection AREAS Ale S G a Stew seewied onhy Search selected rly IE Cave vrctive To save your edits Right click Layer gt Toggle Editing or click Confirm that you want to save your edits GPS 5 9 4 More attributes table functions Select a row in the table by clicking on the row number to the left To select multiple rows h
79. e and click the appropriate button in the confirmation box to open the attachment If Google Earth is not running it will first start up before loading the emailed overlay Otherwise it appears in the Temporary Places folder in the Places panel and the image overlay displays in the viewer bs a Opening overlays on a web server You can open overlays posted to a web server simply by clicking on the link that references the overlay image QGIS Posting image overlays to a web server You can share overlay data with other Google Earth users by posting the overlay file to a web server that other users also have access to Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Placing Web Mapping Service WMS image overlays These are mapping images that are provided through a WMS over the internet They can show you interesting information such as weather formations and conditions topographical maps alternate high resolution satellite imagery 1 Position the 3D viewer in the location where you want to place the overlay image file Try to position the viewer so that it corresponds in viewing altitude to the overlay Add gt Image Overlay gt Refresh Tab 2 Click WMS Parameters The Web Mapping Service Parameters dialog box appears 3 Beside WMS Service choose an appropriate service or click Add to use a URL website address for a WMS After a brief period of time Google Earth populates the Opaque an
80. e layers 118 5 5 1 Changing the layer name 118 dp 5 5 2 Changing the drawing order 118 A 5 5 3 Removing a layer from the map 118 O 5 6 Vector properties 119 5 6 1 Map layer symbolisation 119 5 6 2 Adding a label to a layer 119 5 7 Selecting features 120 aN 5 7 1 Select features tool 120 D 5 7 2 Select feature by querying attributes 120 Eo 5 7 3 Exporting a selection of features 121 z 5 8 Importing other data sources 121 5 8 1 Google Earth 121 5 8 2 Data from tables and reports 122 5 8 3 Data from GPS 123 5 9 Attribute data 125 lt 2 5 9 1 Creating an attributes table 125 gt 5 9 2 Adding new columns to your table 126 5 9 3 Editing your attributes table 127 5 9 4 More attributes table functions 127 5 9 5 Symbolising features on a map 128 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 5 10 Digitising new features 10 1 Creating a new shapefile layer 5 5 10 2 Using the polygon shapefile 5 10 3 Advanced tools 5 10 4 Using these tools to digitise features on a map 5 11 Georeferencing target data using QGIS 5 11 1 Identifting target data and reference data 5 11 2 Initiating and using the Georeferencer plugin 5 11 3 The georeferencing process 5 12 Creating a map to print or for export 5 12 1 Adding a legend and other editing options 5 12 2 Modifying the properties of added items 5 12 3 Recovering the closed Print Composer 5 12 4 Saving printing and exporting Annex Annex 1 Glossary Annex 2 Useful websites 128 129
81. e locations of health clinics with village data to find out how far people have to walk to their nearest clinic Visualisation Mainly this means creating maps using your data and is the main type of activity described in this guide G LU amp D Sharing data Humanitarian and development actions often involve multiple teams as a minimum your aid organisation and the beneficiary community So sharing of spatial data is very important To share data you and your partners need to find a common language to describe your data including QGIS Coordinate systems Latitude longitude is one system but there are many more Fortunately they can be translated quite easily Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping File formats There are quite a few different file formats used by GIS software including ESRI Shapefiles KML files geodatabases and others These are explored further later in this chapter Metadata This means data about the data It is very helpful to others if your data has metadata fields that describe the data how and when it was collected etc Types of data GIS software can handle broadly two types of spatial data formats raster data and vector data A map created by GIS can easily be made up of various layers of both types Raster data is most often a picture either of the earth s surface for example a satellite image or a scan of an existing map The coo
82. e user to the desired folder location In order to share and distribute the cached image data take copies of the files dbCache dat and dbCache dat index Google Earth also stores the My Places and Image Overlay data here as KML files These can be copied and shared with others which allows for quick and easy reproduction of maps that have been worked on within Google Earth Other parties can benefit from pre prepared waypoints paths polygons and overlays without the tedious and time consuming task of recording the coordinates and attributes of each then inputting data manually It is features such as this that are welcome in time critical situations such as disaster response By increasing your memory and disk cache size you can improve performance To do this follow the steps below 1 Click Tools gt Options Mac Google Earth gt Preferences Click on the Cache tab 2 Enter a value in the Memory Cache Size field You do not need to know the actual limits of your computer s se memey cache vt a cine a ma amount of yc marae ha aysien memory because Google Earth p automatically limits the size according to the physical memory available on your computer Dew Cace Tommg nevgeon Gecerat 3 Enter a value less than 2000 in 3 the Disk Cache Size field Disk cache is limited to 2GB Sasna Dota ox caa Google Earth uses this cache when you are viewing imagery offline You can recover some disk space by deleting the
83. eading In some scenarios you may want to give some more context to the position of the placemark relative to the ground For example showing the position of a potential IDP camp on a hillslope relative to the position of a river To change the view Right click Placemark gt Properties gt View Define the following settings Latitude amp Longitude The position of the viewpoint you want to view from Range The area shown radiating from the specified viewpoint in metres Heading The direction in which to view in degrees Tilt The angle in which to view from 0 is directly above 90 is looking at the sideways Date Time If the historical imagery is being used View gt Historical Imagery a user defined timestamp single point in time or time span can be set ID www mapaction org Setting altitude Contents The values set in the A itude area can be used to show the feature above the sutface of the earth at a user defined altitude Right click Placemark gt Properties gt Altitude There are five options 1 amp 2 Clamped to ground Clamped to sea floor This is the default option Altitude for the placemark is locked to the ground sea floor no height value is allowed for altitude The placemark remains fixed to the earth regardless of whether terrain is on or off Humanitarian Mapping 3 amp 4 Relative to ground Relative to sea floor The altitude of the placemark is relative to the actual ground sea
84. ed For temporal data a date range can be included below the viewer Scene properties The user can discriminate between different scene properties using the scroll menus below the view Use Ctrl Click to select or deselect any number in either Require or Exclude Remember to click the Update Map button after any selection of options is made Preview and download Provided there are available images within your search parameters you may now click the Preview and Download button directly below the viewer The screen that follows is a table displaying each available image and a host of metadata to accompany it The range of metadata displayed can be altered using the Show Hide columns drop down menu to the right of the screen above the table Each image may be previewed by clicking it in the ID column The preview is shown in the upper left of the screen with a summary of its metadata including the file size once the compressed file D www mapaction org has been expanded Clicking the preview will open a much larger image in a new tab that enables the user to assess it before downloading Contents Clicking a column head enclosed in square brackets will flip the data contained within it Once satisfied you have made the right choice of scene click the Download button above the table to open the download screen Click the desired link to initiate the file transfer The download will begin in the manner normal
85. eed to check your browser Downloads folder or equivalent as in Google Chrome the normal download initiation notification does not appear GPS When download of Google Earth compatible KMZ file is complete Open it or select it from your browser s Downloads folder or equivalent Google Earth will open automatically with the data already overlaid It is important to note that the KML overlay appears in the Temporary Places folder and will not be saved for future Google Earth sessions until it is moved into the My Places folder or saved manually using File gt Save gt Save to My Places G LU A D See chapter 4 for instructions on operating Google Earth Near Real Time Orbit Swath Images This is a bank of images that is continually updated QGIS By clicking on View Terra Aqua Orbit Tracks at the top of the catalogue the path of the satellite can be viewed and its position relative to the Earth s surface when each image was acquired Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping By rolling the mouse over an image in the catalogue a red frame appears over a portion of the globe to indicate the location of the image data Once a granule image is selected it will appear in a viewing screen with a host of options in the margin to the left of the screen Many of these options should already be familiar to you as they have been mentioned above The image can be dow
86. entation planning or navigation In many countries authoritative roads data either do not exist or are not made available Until recently the main source of global transport E gt www mapaction org data was the military derived VMAP Level 0 which was only suitable at scales of 1 500 000 or less and was becoming outdated Recent years have seen a great improvement in transport data mainly through crowd sourced data sets Care is still needed however tracing the course of a road from a satellite image is relatively easy but determining its surface condition and suitability from the same image is not always possible At a national level a locally produced road map is often useful for reference and cross checking Contents Data attributes are particularly important in road data The ability to distinguish between dirt tracks seasonal roads and all weather highways for example is crucial to a map user making decisions about routings loads and vehicles types Particularly in disaster situations transport conditions are likely to change rapidly due to earthquakes flooding debris or security constraints Humanitarian Mapping so for operational use a system to record and map such changes is needed a S Sources a 3 OpenStreetMap 8 Google MapMaker T Logistics Cluster SDI T 1 VMAP GPS Satellite imagery There is a huge range of humanitarian applications of satellite imagery and remote sensing including
87. ents about the reliability and credibility of the sources Even when requested simply to put the provided data on a map it is important to review carefully the data to minimise the potential for errors or misrepresentation False assumptions about the data can otherwise slip through onto map products A common error is mistaken units of measure for example does the data record numbers of individuals or numbers of families Triangulation of several data sources can highlight apparent inconsistencies that may require checking Contents Humanitarian Mapping It may be appropriate to indicate on the final map any cautions about the validity of the data for example does the absence of a value for affected population in a district on the map mean no one was affected there or no data has been collected there Data Collection IM stage 4 Dissemination Map products are usually the main output of the process but there may also be other formats for example KML files It is essential to have a robust management system for these products which may grow in numbers very quickly during an emergency GPS It is useful for mappers to think of their aim being to get relevant and timely mapped information into the hands of users this is not achieved simply by pushing the print button The dissemination of each new product must be planned In particular map production plans must be worked back from the time the prin
88. eone who does not know the area well Do the most important features of the map stand out clearly If it is a logistics map then the roads and airfields etc should be prominent For thematic maps for example health information then less essential landscape layers could be de emphasised or left off the map altogether Have you simplified colours and symbols Often less is more in terms of communication Don t use too many different symbols or styles A humanitarian symbol set from UNGIWG is available from http www ungiweg org map_prod htm For more information on the symbol set contact maps reliefweb int Have you made effective use of labels Even if your symbols give proportionate information on relative size for example numbers of casualties consider adding labels and annotations to indicate specific figures or other information Have you added the important map furniture This means items in the margins of the map In almost all cases you should include at least the following Map title describes the main theme of the map Date and time if necessary that the information represents Date time that the map was created which may not be the same as above North arrow Scale bar and or statement of scale Legend is a list of the symbols used and what they mean 9 9 4 A 4 A Sources of data used on the map and contact details for your organisation Have you considered displaying a map grid Some softw
89. eoreference data Notice after each point is input it appears with various attribute data in a table below the Contents target image Manipulating points and adding labels Humanitarian Mapping In both the Georeferencer plugin window and the main QGIS window use the arrow keys to pan and the mouse wheel to zoom Points placed on the image can be moved or deleted using buttons in the tool bar Hover the cursor over each to learn its function Data Collection Labels can be added to the points providing information about each by using Settings gt Configure Georeferencer gt select options to meet your requirements Add as many points as is practicable ensuring they are evenly spaced and distributed across the target image GPS E a amp D Start Georeferencing Once you have several points marked on your image make sure you save them by clicking the disk icon It is now time to click the Start Georeferencing button gt to continue the process You will now be prompted to set the Transformation Type if you haven t already done so A new window will appear into which you must input some QGIS information Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Transtormatin type Unea Resampling method Nearest neighbour Compr mesion NONE Creste world fle Output raster Target SAS Cenerate pdf map Generate pf report Set Target Resolution Honzontal Vertes Use 0 for waruparency whe
90. er 1 of this guide and for quicker easier mapping tools see chapter 4 which utilises Google Earth Free and Open Source Software FOSS with GIS functions is widely available in many different packages For the purposes of this guide we have used one package that has a user friendly interface and fast access to most standard raster and vector formats QGIS allows a user with a basic understanding of the functions of GIS and its applications to create many useful map products for work within disaster risk reduction DRR and relief QGIS is a sophisticated GIS toolset Unlike Google Earth it does not open automatically with integrated imagery and mapping however its functionality is considerably wider than Google Earth for managing and mapping spatial data and performing complex analyses on it QGIS can be used in a wide range of humanitarian mapping tasks including T Obtaining and displaying information to orientate new staff arrivals T Showing who what where data coordination Chapter 5 Humanitarian mapping using QGIS 5 1 Introduction getting started with fetes is 5 2 Creating and saving a new project 5 3 Data K AE EL MOLE bs 5 5 Using the map legend to control the layers 5 6 Vector properties 5 7 Selecting features 5 8 Importing other data sources 5 9 Attribute data 5 10 Digitising new features 5 11 Georeferencing target data using erel K 5 12 Creating a map to print or for export centr
91. es health facilities distribution centres refugee camps airfields drop zones Displaying information about infrastructure damage and hazards Dividing up the disaster zone into search and rescue sectors affected zones unsafe zones possible evacuation routes Mapping and analysing data about the affected population and their needs and highlighting spatial gaps and overlaps in response The purpose of this chapter is to give you an overview of the layout terminology and functionality of QGIS To receive further direction in using this software please utilise the online manuals and forums available in many languages at http download osgeo org qgis doc manual www mapaction org 5 1 Introduction getting started with Quantum GIS 5 1 1 Download QGIS Navigate to the QGIS website and follow the online instructions to download the most recent stable version http www qgis org g Quantum GIS aa Quantum GIS Copiapo Sse j mamenn ee ee a d a Start QGIS by finding it in your programs or desktop shortcut amem i 5 1 2 Basic layout This is your Main View Your window may appear differently depending on your operating system and window manager OO phas CROC PKRES r urroraa ear eeutaGd eo0u ws CMAnkaaaso A PORARFAODS aram eRe sae e poon Onsbvarueae os 2 eeg a 1 Menu Bar 3 Map Legend 5 Map Overview 2 Tool Bar 4 Map View 6 Status Bar Menu Bar
92. es sections 2 3 and 2 4 are linked Section 2 3 takes several often used categories of data such as administrative boundaries gives them an overview and points to key data sources 2 4 then gives details of how to access and use each of those data sources The final section 2 5 looks at managing geographical data sets This rather dry topic becomes crucially important when datasets are shared between individuals and teams when they change over time and when old data are used again for new projects Often this realisation is not made until too late so we have included some suggestions and examples here 25 a amp D 2 1 1 Scale and geographical scope The datasets referred to here provide a wide range in their level of detail Some are suitable only for overview mapping at scales of around 1 1 000 000 while others will work at larger scales of 1 50 000 though rarely more than that Note that while GIS software allows a map to be displayed at almost any scale by zooming in and out the map will only be meaningful if it is matched by detail in its data layers QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Sometimes the concept of nominal scale is used the scale at which data were originated such as roads traced from a 1 250 000 road map or can meaningfully be used This applies particularly to vector data see section 1 4 In the case of raster gridded data the resolution is the key that is the s
93. for example weather forecasting agricultural productivity and disease modeling Such work is generally undertaken by agencies with specialist capacity and by research teams In an emergency context one such agency is UNOSAT which provides map products and data derived from remotely sensed data An example is flood extent mapping the view of flooded areas from space is often obscured by clouds but the wavelengths used by RADAR satellites penetrate cloud cover so with the right data software and processing techniques flood maps can be rapidly produced and updated G LU amp D O However this guide does not set out to cover the vast topic of using and processing satellite imagery Instead we focus on a few readily available sources of imagery which require little or no processing The foremost of these is the increasingly ubiquitous Google Earth Chapter 4 shows how it can be used not just to display detailed imagery but to create manage and share humanitarian map features The question often arises is it possible to use imagery from Google Earth or Yahoo and Bing maps in a GIS There are several options listed below although in each case before using them you should check your usage against the relevant terms of service for example the Google Maps Google Earth APIs Terms of Service especially 10 1 3 Restrictions against Data Export or Copying One option is to save a QGIS Field Guide to Human
94. g fl Name Date modified Type Ge Libraries S wrlLadmn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp 21 07 2009 15 05 DBF File 159 KB LJ wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp prj 21 07 2009 15 05 PRJ File 1kB e Homegroup F wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp sbn 21 07 2009 15 05 SBN File 3KB wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp sbx 21 07 2009 15 05 SBX File 1KB 1 Computer wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp 21 07 2009 15 05 ESRI shapefile 43 130 KB wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp shx 21 07 2009 14 56 SHX File 3KB wrl_admn_ad0_py_s0_gaul_pp shp Date modified 13 04 2011 11 27 Date created 08 05 2011 17 17 XML File Size 9 86 KB If you view a shapefile in Windows Explorer you will see that it is actually a collection of individual files with the same name but different file extensions This is because the location data the geometry and the attributes data are held in separate files There may be other shapefile components notably a spatial reference file prj that can contain data about the shapefile s geographic referencing including the projection system that has been set for the file The screenshot above shows the file components of a typical shapefile If you share a shapefile with a colleague make sure that you send all the components Also it is not recommended to edit any of the data outside of specialist GIS software tools because you may cause inconsistencies in the data As a general principle only open and edit a shapefile within your GIS software package 1 7
95. g it to shade it grey Points on the map can be clicked each point is joined to the last Once a selection of points has been made further drawing options appear below the viewer For example if you construct a shape with 3 or more points you can convert it to a polygon QGIS Click Draw Polygon button The polygon will then appear on the map in yellow Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Other examples are Draw Rectangle and Draw Line Map Layers The user can apply layers such as a Lat Long grid and Path Row tile locations Selecting your required data Once you have used the various methods to locate your area of interest it is time to establish what imagery is available Sensory instrument types and some resolution along with preassembled products compilations of imagery that form thematic layers can be selected using the check boxes to the left of the screen If you are unsure of their definitions each one can be clicked and you are directed to an information page about the particular sensor and the data it collects or the function and make up of a product Select one or more gt Click Update Map The areas shaded red are those that contain image data defined by your selection of checkboxes You may Select or Deselect tiles accordingly Selected tiles are framed with a yellow border and their opacity increases slightly Once the tiles have been selected the number of available images within the selection is display
96. grids Keyhole Markup Language KML This is the file format used by Google Earth and increasingly by other GIS software It is an XML based format When KML files are zipped with other data such as photos they become KMZ files Line feature A feature representing a linear object for example a segment of a road railway or river A line feature has a length but no area It may have several changes of direction at a number of vertices MapInfo A suite of GIS software tools from a company of the same name Metadata Data about the data In GIS this means a file of information for a particular spatial dataset It contains details of where and when it was collected by whom and so on Mobile GIS GIS tools that can be run on hand held or other mobile devices and can be used for field data collection Both appropriate software and hardware are needed Open Geospatial Consortium OGC An international standards organisation focused on geospatial content and services GIS data processing and data sharing P code A unique reference code to identify a specific settlement that overcomes variant spellings and similar problems P code schemes ate agreed at an inter agency level in some humanitarian emergencies Placemark A term used in Google Earth and some other GIS software to describe a point feature and its associated attributes Plug in A software tool that is ancillary to the main program and which can be installed by the user
97. gt New Print Composer The following window will open cil t d A Rese Teomg aa tb Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Click Add New Map E found on the tool bar By Holding the Left Mouse Button you can drag a frame in the viewer on the left of the Composer window specifying where on the paper and how much of the print out it will cover moved and the map can be zoomed to achieve the optimum area and R w resolution using the zoom controls QZ Q Q kend By using this icon the content displayed within the viewer can be 5 12 1 Adding a legend and other editing options A legend can be added by clicking the Add Vector Legend button in the tool bar then clicking in the viewer The legend can be positioned and resized as desired Note The legend is a direct translation of the names of the layers in your project so for the purposes of clarity ensure they have suitable names The individual names of features or layers can be changed by clicking the Legend box selecting the Im tab and clicking this button A scale bar is fundamental to any map Without it A the data is near meaningless Add one with T To add an image to your map use the camera icon This could be anything from a symbol to a photograph or the logo of your organisation Tip You may want to highlight a Point of Interest with an image and pinpoint it on the map using the Add arrow tool Labels can convey extra informatio
98. gure out how to use a GPS once you re in the middle of an assessment is too late Practice the basics as soon as you have a GPS in your hands 25 L Ay D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Appendix 3A GPS checklist The following is a checklist of things you need to do before during and after an assessment with a GPS aI0yIg Sumaq yy Done Recorded O Insert new batteries and switch GPS unit on to warm up and allow it to locate itself Select the coordinate system Either Decimal Degrees Degrees Minutes Seconds or UTM and record Check the datum is WGS84 and record Clear any old data off it Load any relevant data to the assess ment including waypoints tracklogs routes and maps Check the tracklog will record at an appropriate frequency Take a waypoint of your current location and start a tracklog When a waypoint is taken record the waypoint number and de cription using the waypoint recording sheet in Appendix B Stop tracklog Download data to a laptop using Google Earth or GPS Utility Enter your recorded waypoint recording sheet data into a spreadsheet If you are handing your GPS or data to someone else talk to them and make sure they understand what you are giving them www mapaction org Budde Weyiter y tere U9 U0 Eana ueWeWUeWNH ejeq Sd yeg I Lelele 9 SIDO x uuy sy ip je asn sy ip e asn Bu sea
99. have an assistant to record the assessment information as you go along For instructions on basic functions in various commonly used GPS models see Appendix 3C Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS 25 L Ay D o QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 3 6 Recording your data Remember that the GPS only records the WP numbers you must also make a record of what these points represent these are called the attributes Some newer GPS receivers and other GPS enabled devices such as hand held computers allow you to enter attribute information by keying it into the device directly when you create a waypoint By all means experiment with these but you may find it awkward in a field environment to mess around with tiny keypads to enter information A paper record as shown below often proves a more practical way to capture various kinds of information You can use a notebook to record the attributes of WPs as you go along Just write down the WP number and what you want to record at that place A better way is to use a purpose designed form Field team waypoint records botore fioktwork il in the shaded baxen ate Zi March 2007 rng Soktwork TA n wypo orao mpat mamaaa Assesment team T wam maita NV T EN Record the coordinate system and furctional YN datum used eT Minas assessment done see for 46 Write in the ae Ter waypoint Set up these
100. he folder erei Tip It is recommended if using a combination of shared styles with individual placemark modifications to first apply shared settings to the folder then modify individual items without affecting the general style settings for the other items Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Activity Five Relocate your Bridge Out placemark created in Activity Four Change the height to 7 metres relative to the ground Change the icons to a suitable size and colour image of your choice 4 3 4 HTML How might I use this The description field for places and folders can contain a lot of text allowing room for sharing of detailed information You can enhance your descriptions using fonts and other formatting even including images using HyperText Markup Language HTML the predominant language for web pages This allows you to share more information in a clearer format HTML provides a means to describe the structure of text based information in a document by denoting certain text as links headings paragraphs and lists HTML tags are respected in Google Earth the following table gives some examples Attribute Code Example Bold lt b gt Test lt b gt Test Italics lt i gt Test lt i gt Test Font type lt font face times new roman gt Example lt font gt Example F lt font face times new roman size 12pt gt Example lt Font size z Example font gt lt font face times new roman size 10pt F
101. he relevant check boxes Overview Map The button in the bottom right of the image will allow the user to view an overview map This is essentially a zoomed out image of the current view It allows for user orientation when viewing a closely zoomed image in the main window Notice a scale bar appears in the bottom left of the image and the cursor position longitude latitude appears in the bottom right By clicking Permalink in the bottom right above the Cursor position the area you have zoomed to and the base layer and overlays selected are saved to a separate URL which can be saved and visited quickly and easily without the need to reselect the desired options Beneath the image there are two buttons and a selector Legend This provides a coloured legend for the SEDAC Population Density Overlay It allows for quick and easy understanding of the overlaid data Click C ose within the legend if it is not necessary to display it D www mapaction org Use the selector to alter the opacity of the SEDAC Population Density Overlay Note Only the base layer is downloadable Unfortunately your downloaded image will not display the overlays and densities applied to it using the WMS This can be solved by taking a screenshot of your constructed map and using it for example as an image overlay in Google Earth Download Click this to begin the downloading process Follow the instructions that appear in the prompt C
102. he image name appearing in purple to view information on the different spectral bands used to create the images This is helpful for selecting the right bands in order to display desired data QGIS Navigation This is the cluster of 4 arrows in the top left of the image itself These can be clicked to move the map around to display a particular portion of the image Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Navigation may also be achieved by Left clicking holding and dragging the image Zoom in and out Found directly underneath the navigation arrows Use the to zoom in and the to zoom out To zoom out to display the extent of the image click the globe icon between and Zooming may also be achieved using the mouse wheel located on top of your mouse Roll the wheel forward away from you to zoom in and roll it backwards towards you to zoom out To quickly zoom to a desired location Hold Shift Left mouse button to drag a frame around the area you wish to view The smaller the frame the further the WMS will zoom in Applying layers and downloading the data q Layers Found as a purple button in the top right of the image Clicking this button will open up a menu of base layer images and an assortment of layers and other display data that can be added over it Use the Base Layer radio buttons to select the image over which to lay any combination of the other data achieved by selecting or deselecting t
103. hese are known as Digital Elevation or Terrain Models DEM DTM in which each cell holds the average elevation of that grid square For example a DEM of Tanzania would contain cell values between 0 and 6000 metres from sea level to the top of Kilimanjaro One of the most used sources of DEM data is the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission referred to as SRTM Its near global coverage has a resolution of 90 metres which makes it detailed enough for scales of up to around 1 50 000 and it is freely available The dataset has existed for about 10 years so many gaps and errors have been removed Greater resolution around 30 metres is available from the Global Digital Elevation Model GDEM derived from ASTER satellite However for now it is considered to be generally less accurate then SRTM A taw DEM dataset can be used analytically in a GIS However when first displayed with GIS software it usually appears in grayscale from black to white indicating the height values More natural colouring can be achieved by applying a colour ramp where different height ranges are shown by different colours CED www mapaction org Alternatively NaturalEarth can be used as a quick source of ready coloured image files not surprisingly these cannot be used for any analytical work but they do look good on a map Contents Most GIS software has the ability to create contour lines from a DEM at an interval specified by the user fo
104. i Googte Earth Z ordering Layers listed nearer the top of the legend are drawn over layers listed lower down in the legend drag and drop to desired location Group Layers Right click Legend Window gt Add group gt a new folder appears gt drag the layers onto to the folder symbol Bring layers out of a group Right click Layer gt Make to top level item Rename Folder Right click folder gt Rename gt type desired name Tip Navigate the Map Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the map by plac ing the mouse cursor inside the map area and roll the wheel forward to zoom in and backwards to zoom out Use the arrow keys to pan in the map by placing the mouse cursor inside the map area and click on the right arrow key to pan East left arrow key to pan West up arrow key to pan North and down arrow key to pan South Map View The map displayed in this window will depend on the vector and raster layers you have chosen to load See 5 3 for more information on data The map view can be panned and zoomed in and out Gz www mapaction org Map Overview Contents How might I use this Provides a full extent view of layers added to it The rectangle shows the current map extent allowing you to quickly determine which area you are currently viewing Right click gt View gt Check Overview Humanitarian Mapping To add a single layer in the overview Right click desired layer in Legend gt Show in ove
105. iles away to plan and coordinate the response Charlie Mason Logistician Save the Children UK Data Collection We can see therefore that demand for mapped information will be great once a disaster response operation is in progress Relief actors do not just want information related to their own operations they also need to coordinate their programmes with other organisations possibly dozens of them GPS Both the maps and the information displayed on them are equally important Early in the incident maps will themselves become tools for prioritising areas of most concern Later the situation information on the maps will gain the Spotlight but the best way to present the information is a map Ramiro Galvez UNDAC team member Haiti earthquake 2010 1 3 What mapping tools can my organisation use today G LU amp D MapAction and other specialist mapping agencies have shown the usefulness of geographical information systems in the humanitarian world This still m me relies heavily on conventional but sophisticated and powerful desktop F GIS software such as the ArcGIS and MapInfo software suites However many humanitarian organisations do not have the fm resources to acquire and deploy these mainstream GIS solutions which require significant investment in money and training QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Fortunately the range of alternative methods of co
106. ints with pop up data for them 6 Click OK and data will commence downloading ete iS 7 Once download is complete confirmation box will appear 8 Data will be stored in the Places Panel and can be edited Tip If you receive a connection error turn the GPS device on and off and start again from step 2 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Supported file extensions gpx loc mps gdb tcx nmea log wpt plt and pcx files can all be imported into Google Earth by Tools gt GPS gt Import tab gt Import from File gt Import gt browse to file gt Open 4 5 3 Real time GPS tracking This allows live tracking of your position in Google Earth via a connected GPS receiver 1 Using the cable connect the GPS to the computer and turn the GPS on 2 On the computer screen select Tools gt GPS gt Realtime tab 3 Select the correct Protocol for your device 4 Select Track Point Import Limit determines how many position points are imported and averaged for every polling 5 Select Polling Interval determines how often GE gets position data from your GPS 6 Click Automatically Follow the Path and Google Earth will zoom to the current GPS location and follow it as it changes 7 Click Start and tracking will commence 8 Your path is saved and displayed on screen To save permanently Right click Route gt Save as Tip More points accurate but slower position update Less points updates positio
107. ion and avoid confusion IM stage 1 Data collection The mapper may not have been responsible for data collection still it is important where possible to ensure that data collection is well planned and rigorous Colleagues collecting field data should be requested to ensure that GPS coordinates are included it is amazing how often mappers are presented with lists of data identified only by place names that cannot be found on available maps see side bar on this page about p codes IM stage 2 Collation Data must be organised systematically before being input to the GIS In a busy field environment it is essential to make good arrangements for physical handling of data documents or data sticks left for downloading etc Data should be annotated immediately on receipt with date time of acquisition or collection if different and contact details of the person contributing it as a minimum Spreadsheet tables are a common way of holding data to be mapped Some GIS software can read data directly from spreadsheets that are linked to the map project When the data changes it then becomes straightforward to update maps linked to the tables www mapaction org IM stage 3 Analysis Once data has been published on a finished map it will often thereby increase in apparent authority and reliability So the mapper should take responsibility at least to assess the likely validity of the data This will always involve judgem
108. ion org Raster data in GIS consists of matrices of discrete cells that represent features on above or below the Earth s surface Each cell in the raster grid is the same size and cells are usually square Typical raster datasets include remote sensing data such as aerial photography or satellite imagery and modelled data such as an elevation matrix In the case of true georeferenced imagery such as true colour land photography as might be obtained in GeoTIFF format the data of the cells of the raster image is not accessible in the normal manner of grids but instead it is displayed simply as an image with whatever RGB values are stored within it normally Unlike vector data raster data typically do not have an associated database record for each cell 5 3 2 Vector data Many of the features available in QGIS work the same regardless of the vector data source i je Data type Sources Examples of uses oO a Background 1 Topographic maps scanned 1 Analysing damage and flooding S a Satellite imagery q Identifying flat land for IDP camp S Aerial photos locations t 1 Contextual Information c G Cap r T O S 1 Virtual Map of the World Identifying roads and routes 0 Y VMAP aa e q Classifying urban areas and a0 c fl GAUL admin boundaries data settlements with population fig 3 gt t set ures T 4 National mapping agencies Base maps of districts and com Gi digitised data h
109. iple ways in which mapping and sharing of spatial data can be used practically by any relief agency or NGO zo enhance its emergency response a www mapaction org Chapter 2 Geographic data collection Contents 2 1 Introduction to chapter 2 In humanitarian mapping a scenario typically runs like this I have some data about a project or an emergency we ll call this situational data but I need some further layers either to provide context to a map or to undertake a geographical analysis This chapter shows where to find such layers termed broadly as background or base layers and looks at the practicalities of using them Humanitarian Mapping Ultimately the layers you choose and use will be determined by the requirements of your project However as an introduction at this stage and as a reference guide for future use this chapter surveys a wide range of geographical information sources Data Collection This section introduces key concepts to be aware of in using geographical information and in identifying useful data sources Section 2 2 focuses on the immediate response to an emergency the sorts of geographical information you can lay your hands on quickly whether a simple reference map of the country or a first indication of the area hit by a disaster In this case a paper map or a simple graphic file such as jpg is often most effective before delving into GIS territory GPS Next are GIS data sourc
110. ironmental health natural hazards population and poverty Method of downloading data is particular to each site respectively CGIAR SRTM T srtm csi cgiar ore The Consortium for Spatial Information is responsible for developing collections of data on population poverty climate soils crops livestock transportation and biodiversity and other geospatial Global Public Goods EarthExplorer satellite imagery T earthexplorer usgs gov The user can define an area and a timeframe using an augmented Google Earth interface Available datasets can be selected from an extensive list using check boxes Once the software has located the data specified a preview and comprehensive metadata is available for viewing before download DEIGI Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS 25 a A D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping FAO GeoNetwork www fao org geonetwork Can be used to find interactive maps GIS datasets satellite imagery and related applications A simple to use navigable map viewer allows the application of layers onto a world map from a variety of web based sources The finished product can be saved and shared even with the option to export the map as a PDF Downloadable data can also be accessed by selecting from a list of categories for use in GIS applications Each zipped package contains the files dbf pr sbn sbx shp and shx Database of Global Administrative
111. is likely some basic geographical questions typically emerge what is the physical setting in terms of rivers and terrain What is the access and transport infrastructure Do we have any indication of the population that is potentially affected Further quick reference mapping Online mapping services It is worth comparing the information shown on the well known providers such as Bing Google OpenStreetMap OSM and Yahoo At this stage a simple print out or screen save can be useful A particularly useful service has been established using the OSM database www maposmatic org asks you to define an area then produces not only a PDF map but an index to the area cross referencing street names and place names Being a PDF makes it particularly portable and suitable for large format printing E gt www mapaction org Paper maps Our enthusiasm for technology can make us forget that some of the best reference mapping is still in paper form If a big map shop is not in reach then next day delivery is usually possible Some good UK retailers with web catalogues Elstead Maps The Map Shop MapsWorldwide and Stanfords Contents Dedicated rapid mapping services ReliefWeb quickly hosts new maps produced by various agencies in response to the current emergency as well as keeping an archive of previous maps Also check emergency mapping agencies such as UNOSAT Logistics Cluster and iMMAP Humanitarian Mapping CrisisMap
112. is screen Use the New table button at the top left of the window to begin creating your first table Click New table gt select either Import table or New empty table Import table Import table allows you to use a precompiled table of data This can be sourced from your own computer or loaded from Google Spreadsheets found at https docs google com home From this computer To upload a file from your computer either input the file path in the box or use Browse to locate it on your hard drive Once the file has been found click Next Eart nals bbe Note The supported file types are listed onscreen along with size limits Laas er PE A for each Comma Separated Variables esis seria i mi csv Microsoft Excel xls or xlsx OpenDocument Spreadsheet osd and Keyhole Markup Language kml For further help click Learn more or use the button by each file type G 100 www mapaction org Google Spreadsheets Contents This option allows you to import data from a spreadsheet or form that has been created using Google Spreadsheets Data can be inputted into a user friendly and familiar looking spreadsheet interface Much like Google Fusion Tables there is a range of privacy and visibility options to help you limit who is allowed to view the data once it is saved Humanitarian Mapping See http docs google com Sychronising Google Fusion Tables and Google Spreadsheets Google Spreadsheets yo
113. itarian Mapping screenshot and georegister it in a GIS another is to use a utility like Google Satellite Maps Downloader that saves and mosaics imagery from online mapping services such as Google s and specifically for Quantum GIS the plug in called OpenLayers displays online maps and imagery just as any other layer except that it can only be displayed onscreen and not printed or exported in a map If you are likely to make much use of high resolution satellite imagery of a specific area the best option could be to buy a license from a commercial provider This may be the same or similar to imagery in Google Earth but you will both have a license to use it and will have access to the full image resolution One of the quickest ways to see what is available is through Google Earth in Layers choose More then three providers are listed GeoEye Spot Image and Digital Globe Satellite data that is available free of cost and generally without license restrictions is usually of lower resolution This however can be good for many applications particularly those involving for example land use and land cover forest cover habitat mapping agriculture urban mapping and fire extents One of the most used sources of such imagery is Landsat obtained worldwide by a succession of NASA satellites since 1972 and with a resolution of 30 metres and since 1999 15 metres for the panchromatic or black and white band The easiest sources for
114. ize of the area that each grid cell or pixel covers on the ground For satellites this varies from 8 km to 1 km for meteorological satellites and 250 m to less than 1 metre for imaging satellites In terms of coverage the datasets listed are global or near global In most cases the scale or resolution is fairly consistent though some vary according to the level of mapping effort the crowd sourced projects OpenStreetMap and Google MapMaker are examples In this publication we have not attempted to list sources specific to individual countries or areas For more local datasets some suggested starting points are National mapping agencies see wwy unsalb org and other government departments relevant to your work NGOs working in country In addition to humanitarian NGOs conservation organisations often have useful data holdings 1 UNOCHA or other locally active UN agencies Local commercial data providers 2 1 2 Data quality A map by virtue only of being a map is often seen as having a certain authority about it The same applies to map data In both cases the perceived authority may be spurious Due to this some quick data quality checks are recommended The important aspects will vary according to your application but as a guideline Source Do you know the data source s How reliable is it This doesn t refer only to the agency or person you received the data from but to the origin of the data Dates Whe
115. l Bhupinder Tomar Senior Officer Disaster Preparedness International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies In the disaster response phase maps can be invaluable for making sense of the emergency and for planning response both at individual organisation level and for inter agency coordination There is a need for mapped information from the earliest stage of response during the search and rescue SAR phase SAR teams need ways to create rapid maps of their area of operations for Urban SAR USAR work this may require a high level of detail Ep www mapaction org We need maps of the affected area showing specific hazard areas roads Rey landmarks and work areas with GPS coordinates logistics resources and medical treatment areas Joe Kratochivil USAR Specialist Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Team Contents In a catastrophic disaster the landscape itself may have been changed by a natural event such as widespread flooding Even NGOs with long term development programmes in the affected country may need new maps that depict the changed geography in the disaster zone They may need to plan relief programmes for areas of the country that are unfamiliar to them and to do so alongside new actors Humanitarian Mapping In an emergency we want maps of the affected population and displacements major routes other actors clinics water points and so on Al the things you need if you are sitting hundreds of m
116. l defined coastlines or rivers and roads as just a few examples Datasets include Cultural administrative regions urban areas and infrastructure Physica lakes islands reefs and bathymetry and Raster shaded elevation maps These all come in small medium or large scale File formats include Shapefile geoDB and Tiff 25 a amp D NGA Raster Roam geoengine nga mil Versatile ground elevation data source Area may be selected using the mouse pointer or limits set by manual input of latitude longitude and the pixel extent The units of elevation and even the sun position can be specified A raster importer can be used to convert the image to a variety of file types some of which are accessible by even the most basic software These include 7mg tif dem jpg fil and rst among others QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping NGA Shoreline 1 Prototype Global Shoreline Data shoreline noaa gov data datasheets pes html 1 World Vector Shoreline shoreline noaa gov data datasheets wvs html Coverage extending from 60 degrees south to 80 degrees north Data in WGS84 coordinate system Shorelines are seamless polyline files that can be downloaded by region They are in ESRI shapfile format NGA GNS GEONet Names Server T earth info nga mil gns html cntry_files html Complete Key to attributes www oziexplorer3 com nameseatch fd_cross_ref html Source of complete files of geographic names info
117. l to decide early in your mapping work which projection system you will use This may depend to some extent on the projection system used for your base map data However it is often straightforward to convert te project the data from one projection system to another using your GIS software You will usually set up the projection system for your new map when you first ESD www mapaction org create it using the software Or the software will take the projection of the first data to be added as the default for that map Then any new data that is added will be re projected on the fly this just means that it will be adjusted within the map without changing the base data files Or you can use software tools to change permanently the projections of your data which will speed up processing later on Contents What are datums Mapping Another question that can be confusing is what datum has been used The term has several meanings in mapping and is potentially a complex topic But in simple terms it means the reference system global Tor regional that has been applied when compiling the coordinates It is also sometimes caled the spheroid It may be surprising but a unique latitude longitude fix can be interpreted as slightly different positions on the ground depending on the datum that has been used This is not enough to be a problem for small or medium scale mapping for example locating villages Howeve
118. laces and move the two placemarks you just created into it 70 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 4 3 3 Advanced folders and placemarks Using custom icons For single placemarks and folders of placemarks you can select a custom image to use as an icon rather than one of the default set of icons available to all placemarks 1 a For single placemarks Right click Placemark gt Properties b For a folder of placemarks Right click Fodder gt Properties gt Style Color gt Share Style 2 Select icon next to Name Field Click Add Custom Icon from the icon palette 4 Indicate a valid path or Web URL in the field next to the Icon Fik URL label or click Browse to specify the file on your computer or network If you refer to an image on the web be sure you have entered the path to the image itself not the web page containing the image O Editing line colour and width When your placemark data consists of lines such as with saved directions you can use the line properties in the Style Tab to modify the colour width and opacity of the line in the 3D viewer Right click Placemark gt Properties gt Style Colour Changing the view When a placemark is Doubled clicked Google Earth will fly to the location The default FlyTo position is directly above the placemark in a Northerly orientation The FlyTo position can be defined by the user so that the feature can be viewed from a different location angle range and h
119. lects features according to certain attributes For example to select towns over a certain population or countries below a certain area Right click Layer gt Open Attribute Table gt Advanced Search Select the Field that contains the data you need to analyse and use the Operators to query your data Example in the data set shown above to find all communes with a population above 1 000 a www mapaction org Double click SamPop gt Click the gt sign gt enter 1000 gt Click OK Contents All features that match the criteria are selected In the View menu you then have the option to T Just view the selected items Zoom to the selected items Humanitarian Mapping You will see the selected features are highlighted on the map as well as in the attribute table 5 7 3 Exporting a selection of features Data Collection A selection of features can be used to make a new Shapefile Select some records using either an attribute query or by selecting on the map Close the attribute table if open gt Right click Layer gt Save selection as GPS In new dialog box Select ESRI Shapefile and enter the name of the new shapefile Browse the location of where you want to save it Note If you want to view your new Shapefile you need to add it your map 5 8 Importing other data sources How Might I Use This G L oo D It is likely in the field that data will come t
120. lick O amp then by holding shift drag a frame around the desired area with the Left mouse button A dialogue box will appear with the properties of your selected download image displayed Click Ok Read the dialogue box carefully If the properties of your chosen image require altering you have the opportunity to do this now The image may be resized either by clicking the Select to Reselect a Smaller Area radio button and clicking Submit or by clicking the Select Define a Different Image Resolution Below radio button and manually entering the pixel width and height of your image If you are satisfied with the area you have already selected click the Select to Download Image at Native Resolution radio button Choose a file format by selecting one of these radio buttons c O C JPG GEOTIFF PNG Click Submit Your download should begin automatically in the normal manner The downloaded image can be imported into Google Earth as an Image Overlay see chapter 4 or viewed and manipulated in a GIS software package such as Quantum GIS see Chapter 5 Download GeoTIFF file The georeferencing information is embedded within the file itself This information will likely include projection type coordinates and datum values needed to specify the exact spatial reference of the image GeoTiff files are handled by GIS software packages such as QGIS see chapter 5 DELEI Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS G
121. llecting sharing and mapping geographical information has broadened Since its launch in 2005 Google Earth is claimed to have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times It is a desktop data visualisation tool with world wide map data neatly integrated into it useable online or offline available free of charge to anyone with a computer and internet access in order to download it At the same time there has been a steady growth in the number of conventional desktop GIS packages available under free or open source licences Although some of these offer functionality to rival the leading commercial GIS software packages they are not all easy to use even in a normal work environment let alone under the pressures of a humanitarian operation Crowds and clouds The emergence of web 2 0 the collaborative use of online technologies has coincided with the mass marketing of locational technologies such as GPS Geotagging of pictures and other content and mashups to map this data are now being used in the development and humanitarian spheres For example after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010 an ecosystem of new technology platforms for information sharing sprang up including a mobilisation of Ushahidi com an online mapping network that enables members of the public assuming they have internet access to post reports of incidents directly to the map database This crowdsourcing of data can generate situa
122. lly integrated with existing data To answer specific questions for example which organisation is working in which area or which displaced persons camp is affected by disease outbreaks the spatial data can be queried and analysed However some specific analysis tasks may need the data to be transformed and manipulated first before any analysis can take place The query and analysis results can finally be displayed on a map ED www mapaction org Desktop GIS software tools can be grouped into three basic categories These are sometimes together termed desktop GIS Mainstream GIS software suites typically include functions and tools from all three of these groups GIS viewers are software packages that allow you to view the spatial data that you have and assemble it into relevant layers the basis for a simple map Some free GIS packages simply allow you to view your data in various ways but you can do little else GIS editor tools allow you to manipulate and change your spatial data For example to add new locations to a data set of clinics or to change a boundary line between two districts GIS analysis tools give the ability to answer questions about the data and to create new outputs for example to create a new map layer showing travel times to clinics based on different modes of transport There are also some other tools that may be used to support the above basic functions Spatial Database Management
123. lt M Option M on the Mac Activity Two Zoom back into the Falkland Islands using your preferred method Insert an Overview Map to the 3D Viewer showing the Falklands location relative to South America Using the Pan and Zoom navigation methods note the changes in the Red Extent Window Add a Grid to the 3D Viewer and change the coordinates to UTM and the elevation to meters www mapaction org Contents 4 2 Layers How might I use this The Layers feature in Google Earth provides a variety of data points of geographical interest that you can select to display over your viewing area This Pig includes points of interest POIs as well as map toad and terrain You can z use this information to help plan routes look at elevation and check border O lines in your location of work z a z 4 2 1 Basic layers Layers content is created by Google or its partners Information which appears c in the Places panel however can be created by anyone using Google Earth or S Q KML O Sg Description Examples 8 Roads Road map information for viewing Major highways county roads and area streets Terrain 3D elevation data for the viewing Limited to natural geographic features region eg mountains and canyons Borders Turns on all possible borders Coastlines International boundaries dp State and province boundaries oO Here are some examples of layers included with Google Earth Turn POIs on and off by che
124. many require an acknowledgement So be aware of any such licensing conditions Realistically if you are just checking a layer for suitability you re unlikely to read a licence agreement in detail But for maps or analyses that are published internally or externally be sure to observe any conditions of use GPS Within MapAction we have found that data providers greatly appreciate feedback on how their products are used especially where they have to justify their service to funders Most data providers are also responsive to suggestions for improving their data or their website interfaces 2 1 4 File formats Geographical data can come in a bewildering variety of file formats There are no best or standard formats but there are some commonly used ones For vector data Shapefiles shp are most prevalent this is a format used by ESRI for almost 20 years see Section 1 6 Increasingly XML based formats are being used these include KML for Google Earth OSM OpenStreetMap format and GPX for GPS data Raster data are mostly provided as either i a common graphics format such as f or jpg with associated information holding their georeferencing and coordinate system or ii one of a huge number of specialist raster formats designed for different satellites software and data types iG a amp D QGIS Fortunately most GIS software is becoming much more omnivorous in the forma
125. n appropriate resolution and then select available printers just as you would for any document Most Recent Search Results Most recently searched location Clete 4 8 3 Memory and disk cache preferences You can use Google Earth offline without an internet connection To do this you need to have the data cached saved onto your hard disk First connect to the internet launch Google Earth and clear its disk cache Tools gt Options gt Cache gt Clear disk cache gt OK Then make sure that the borders and roads layers are switched on zoom to the affected area and systematically sweep it at an appropriate level of resolution As you do this the background imagery is cached to disk 2S LL Ac D O To copy the cache You can make a copy of the cached data on your computer and pass this to another user so that they can view and use the same regional content without having to connect to the internet To do this close Google Earth then go to this location C Documents and Settings USER Local Settings Application Data Google GoogleEarth erei Windows Vista C USER AppData Loca Google GoogleEarth Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Windows 7 CA Users Username App Data LocalLow Google GoogleEarth Note The AppData folder is not visible in Windows 7 Explorer but the path can be copied and pasted or typed directly into the address bar Pressing enter return will take th
126. n identified as highly capable software for the functions in humanitarian mapping Data Humanitarian A Contents Mapping Collection GPS G L Ae D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Alternatively however the following software packages and resources may also be useful to your organisation Low cost alternative GIS software tools 1 OS Geo Foundation Support for custom functionality programming www osgeo org seatch_profile Manifold GIS www manifold net Tatuk GIS www tatukgis com products Editor Editor aspx Free of cost GIS software but not open source 1 Spring GIS www dpi inpe br spring index html Developed by the Brazilian Space Agency SavGIS www savgis org es Maintained by an official body Spanish language software Free and open source software 1 OpenJUMP GIS www openjump org Smaller user community but highly specialised on vector data editing and ease of use Grass GIS www grass itc it Overwhelming functionality but difficult to use However QGIS can be used as an interface to Grass GIS functions Good raster analysis for flood prediction gvSIG www evsig eva es Raster analysis functionality is added from the SEXTANTE plugin a separate project www sextantegis com ILWIS www ilwis org This was originally developed at ITC in the Netherlands has good tutorials available MapWindow www mapwindow org Good functionality and interface The first e
127. n needed R Lood in QGIS when done The default transformation type is Linear Before you can proceed you must assign the output with a name Do this by or by typing a file path directly into the address bar Remember to use a logical and simple file naming system see section 2 5 for guidance clicking on effective file naming Check the Load in OGIS box and Click OK Completing the process Your image will now appear in your main QGIS window as a layer overlaid onto your reference data layer To remove the labels maximise the Georeferencer plugin window and navigate to the following Settings gt Configure Georeferencer gt Uncheck Show IDs and Show Coords gt Minimise window Provided your points were selected accurately and that the reference data is reliable your image should now be georeferenced for use in GIS See image on page 139 Note for clarity purposes the reference layer colour has been changed and the layers reordered to place the buildings over the georeferenced image GED www mapaction org jite 2011 Google 5 12 Creating a map to print or for export Once you have compiled sufficient layers of data to match your needs and deliver the relevant information to the reader you can use QGIS to quickly and simply create a printable or exportable map Once you are happy with the format and style of your map within the QGIS window it is now time to use the Print Composer Click File
128. n quickly but less accuracy Activity Eight If you have a GPS collect some data from where you are located Download the data into Google Earth Annotate the features with a new style colour and labels www mapaction org 4 6 Saving and sharing Google Earth data Contents How might I use this Sharing information collaborations on tasks and coordination of activities among personnel in different organizations is an important part of successful humanitarian work Sharing data helps to provide near real time situational awareness and collect display assessment data for operations With new data against old you can evaluate and monitor change in a situation and transfer knowledge within a community Humanitarian Mapping 4 6 1 KML KML or Keyhole Markup Language is a grammar and file format for modeling and storing geographical features such as points lines images polygons and models for display in Google Earth and Google Maps You can use KML to share places and information with other users of Google Earth and Google Maps To open KML File gt Open Cir O in Windows Linux O on the Mac Data Collection Navigate to the location of the KMZ or KML data you want to open in Google Farth Select the file and click the Open button The folder or Placemark appears in the P aces panel and the 3D viewer flies to the view set for the folder or Placemark GPS Setting KML error options You can set how Google Ear
129. n that cannot be displayed graphically Q a Simple geometric shapes are created using To add a table of attributes omw www mapaction org 5 12 2 Modifying the properties of added items Next to the General tab can be found the Item tab The properties of individual items or groups of items can be modified and in many cases in extensive detail For example shapes infill line weight columns in a table layer or single item colours the option to group items or items within layers symbology and the formatting of text can all be altered here Items added within the Print Composer can be grouped ungrouped to enable easy repositioning without having to alter each one individually Added items can be locked into position by using Right click This prevents accidental repositioning when attempting to grab something else Use Undo Redo much like in many other software applications to rectify any mistakes made The Raise selected item and Align selected items buttons are used to position items you have added relative to one another Notice the arrow indicating a drop down menu for each 5 12 3 Recovering the closed Print Composer 5 12 If you accidentally or indeed meaningfully close the Print Composer your work can be recovered by Click File gt Print Composers gt Composer the number of your current work 4 Saving printing and exporting How might I use this The Print Composer s ultimate role is
130. n use today 1 4 Some key concepts 1 4 1 What is spatial data 1 4 2 How can we use and share our spatial data 1 4 3 What kinds of spatial data may be useful in my work 1 5 Cautions when collecting and using spatial data 1 6 Projections and datums 1 7 Data formats 1 7 1 Vector Shapefiles 1 7 2 KML and KMZ 1 7 3 Raster and image data 1 8 Data and information management 1 9 An introduction to cartography 1 10 Community level mapping techniques 1 11 GIS software recommendations 1 12 Case Study Chapter 2 Geographic Data Collection 2 1 Introduction to chapter 2 2 1 1 Scale and geographical scope 2 1 2 Data quality 2 1 3 Conditions of use 2 1 4 File formats 2 2 Forget GIS I just need a map 2 3 Data layers key categories with sources 2 3 1 Further sources of data 2 4 Datasets and data sources 2 4 1 Obtaining downloadable MODIS data 2 4 2 Obtaining downloadable OpenStreetMap OSM data 2 4 3 Obtaining data from the Global Land Cover Facility 2 5 Organising your datasets 2 5 1 Structure of data folders databases 2 5 2 File naming II III IV OUomeArtaunanwnd e p j d e DO AAU RF CO OO 21 21 22 23 23 24 25 31 32 40 46 47 51 51 52 www mapaction org Chapter 3 An Introduction to Global Positioning Systems GPS n L D S fe 3 1 Introduction 54 3 2 Before your field mission 54 3 3 Coordinate systems and datums 55 a 3 3 1 Coordinate systems 55 a 2 3 3 2 Datums 56 7 2 3 4
131. n were the data originally generated Over what period were or are they valid Might things have changed significantly Quoted dates may be misleading often referring to re publications of the older datasets Positioning Is the coordinate system defined Is your area of interest covered Does it overlay with other data sets Geography When you view the layer do the details look right The shapes of roads and rivers for example particularly in areas that you know on the ground Do they match other data sets ED www mapaction org Attributes Do the names of the attributes fields columns make sense Field names ate sometimes abbreviated ambiguous or unspecific For example which year does population refer to Is cholera_cases a weekly total or a cumulative total Does FoodAssistanceJune2010 refer to individuals or households Also check the attribute values themselves are they complete Again do they make sense For example do the numbers or percentages tally with what you expect Contents Mapping Documentation Look for explanations about how data were derived and for any particular disclaimers These will help indicate any specific strengths or limitations Humanitarian 2 1 3 Conditions of use Data Collection Most of the data sets in this guide are available as downloads from websites at no cost Most can be used without restriction for non commercial purposes though
132. nd automatically between systems Examples of these are Web Feature Service WFS and Web Mapping Service WMS The technicalities of these standards are beyond the scope of this guide QGIS Information management Maps are information products and are only as good as the data that is used to make them The process of gathering and organising this data must therefore be a concern of the mapper Information management IM is Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping the process of turning data into actionable information and providing this to users The information management process comprises four stages q Collection q Collation q Analysis q Dissemination Some tips are provided here from the point of view of practical and useful map production Locating places P codes A recurring problem in humanitarian field work is confusion over places towns villages known by differing names For example a village may be called one name by the residents but by an alternative name by the authorities or by people of a different ethnic or language group Or two vilages in different districts may have the same name A recognised postal coding system may be s but if humanitarian y helpful if it e not then coordination actors for example UN OCHA may have created a coding syste typically termed p codes p for place Labeling maps with p codes as well as place names can aid data collect
133. ne of the following Select View gt Overview Map erei Adjusting the overview map size and zoom ratio Select Tools gt Options gt 3D View Mac Google Earth gt Preferences gt 3D Vien Adjust the slider control in the overview map options to scale the overview map from small to large Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Using the settings in the Options gt 3D View Tab you can also adjust the ratio of territory displayed in the overview map window relative to that in the 3D viewer 4 1 9 Viewing preferences To access these settings do the following Windows Linux Click Tools gt Options gt 3D View Mac Click Google Earth gt Preferences gt 3D View Show lat long By default the display of the coordinates is in degrees minutes seconds You can choose the Show Lat Long option to display geographical coordinates in decimal degrees ot Universal Transverse Mercator Elevation units By default the display of the elevation of the terrain beneath the pointer is displayed in feet and miles You can choose to display elevation in meters and kilometers FlyTo Speed This setting is the speed at which you move fly to a location The setting can adjusted by going to Tools gt Options gt Navigation gt FhyTo Speed 4 1 10 Viewing a location in Google Maps To display the current view in Google Maps in your web browser do one of the following Either Click the map icon in the toolbar Or Ctrl A
134. ng Data Collection GPS Within 24 hours of the earthquake HIN s national staff have compiled initial reports of affected communities HIN s international emergencies team arriving in the capital uses Google Earth to locate the damage reports and to make a plan for a rapid needs assessment mission They confer with International Red Cross and United Nations disaster assessment team members and coordinate a plan of assessment actions The teams share their plans and intended routes as KML files which can be combined and viewed by any other Google Earth user G LU A D Assembling map data While the assessment teams are gearing up HIN s GIS savvy staffers in country and at headquarters quickly come up with a data gathering plan to assemble appropriate base map layers that can be used both in the commercial and open source software packages that they use They approach a wide range of data owners both within Marginalia including the ministries of health and agriculture universities and aid development agencies and beyond QGIS At this stage a MapAction team is deployed to the emergency and contact is made with HIN s national staff Both organisations share their map datasets Within hours MapAction has obtained satellite data analysed by UNOSAT in Geneva that identifies the areas and settlements most likely to have been damaged by the earthquake This is overlaid on population data and the informa
135. ng say a new aid agency field office a security incident or an update of malaria cases but a placename is the only clue to its location Unless the place is already known a geographical list of settlement locations is needed this can be provided by GIS data likewise data on Administrative Units covered earlier are also useful for this purpose The result might be to map the features or as MapAction has found several times to provide coordinates to field parties or helicopter pilots Settlement data are usually in vector format typically as points though in some cases polygons might be used to define the extents of urban areas Attribute data will normally contain place names although be aware of variations in spelling and transliterations Richer settlement data might also contain population and other demographic attributes The best sources of settlement data are often national mapping agencies or other organizations already working in a country where time allows it is worth contacting them However for initial use or in emergencies there are several increasingly useful global sources Sources NGA Geographic Names Server OpenStreetMap Google MapMaker Transport infrastructure One of the key data categories in humanitarian mapping This includes roads tracks airfields railway lines sea ports and in some places inland waterways Of these roads are the most frequently used for mapping whether for ori
136. ng http google latlong blogspot com A news and notes webpage by the Google Earth and Maps team Google Outreach US website http earth google com outreach Google Spreadsheet Mapper http earth google com outreach tutorial_mapper html Allows you to create 400 placemarks with six ready made templates KML Documentation http code google com apis kml documentation Particularly useful if you want to find further codes also the interactive sampler is a good way of trying things and seeing the results Northgates KML Editor http www northgates ca KMLEditor A useful editor Official Google Earth Website http earth google com For download of software and updates Ogle Earth www ogleearth com A Google Earth news site charting innovative uses and political implications of Google Earth The KML Handbook Geographic Visualization for the Web http my safaribooksonline com 9780321574404 Gives examples on what things are and how to do them Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection Clete 2S LL Ac D O erei Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Chapter 5 Humanitarian mapping using Quantum GIS How to use Chapter 5 QGIS is a powerful Geographical Information System GIS software toolkit that is free to download and use This chapter focuses on the use of QGIS for mapping in humanitarian operations For a general introduction to GIS for humanitarian mapping see chapt
137. nload options for the particular image set Here can be found the alternative download method ESDI explained below and in most cases a FTP library If you are aware of what image you want and are familiar with the directory tree you can navigate to it and download it directly G a amp D For ease of navigation when using the directory pages it is advisable to open a new browser tab for each subsidiary directory Right click gt Open link in new tab This enables the user to browse multiple datasets and not get lost in a directory tree QGIS Map Search using the Earth Science Data Interface ESDI This is a tool for locating desired data geographically It can be accessed either as mentioned above via the button in the Download Data box on the GLCF Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping homepage or via the Data and Products button then by following the Earth Science Data Interface link at the top of the page Note From here you may also use the Path Row Search and the Product Search These are explained later Utilising the Map Search tool Basic controls Zoom to the area of interest by clicking within the image ensuring the Zoom button is selected A latitude longitude grid can be added to aid navigation It can be found in the Map Layers tab above the viewer To zoom the selected view centrally use the bar above the pp if viewer To pan the map to view a diffe
138. nloaded using the links underneath it You will be prompted for your username and password before the file transfer can take place Gallery These images are posted onto the website as soon as possible after they are acquired Usually within 2 5 hours They are displayed here because they show an event of some interest Downloading these images is simple Select an image and click on the Pixel Size link of your choice to establish the desired resolution The image will open in a Image from NASA GSFC Rapid Response viewer with relevant information metadata in the margin to the left along with downloading options 2 4 2 Obtaining downloadable OpenStreetMap OSM data The URL http downloads cloudmade com is included in the list above This website offers many files types ready for download free of charge and users are welcome to use reproduce and modify the available files under the condition that proper attribute is made to the OpenStreetMap community by including a link to mww openstreetmap org on their work Take note of the disclaimer halfway down the page stating that the maps are based on OpenStreetMap a work in progress so many countries have only partial or incomplete datasets Some downloadable files are zipped to minimise download time These require additional software such as WinZip or WinRAR to extract The format of the website is very simple The list of links in the lower portion of the website is the
139. nto representations of the region you are looking at using simple tools like pen and paper In a situation with no time or resources a map drawn on paper can be enough to help to identify the most at risk areas of a settlement and to mark the location of valuable services such as water resources GPS Data collection for community level mapping G L A D Data to be collected should be based on the analysis of potential risks the incidence of previous disasters and the vulnerability of the population There are many guides on collecting data for various stages of the disaster cycle Some organisations have their own systems and guidance A good collection of methods for risk assessment can be found on the ProVention Consortium website QGIS http www proventionconsortium org Methodologies for vulnerability and capacity assessments VCA can be found on the IFRC s website http www iftc org what disasters tresources publications asp Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping The first step is to collect all the necessary information you have available to you this could include T Studies and analyses of hazards vulnerabilities and risks Collection of information on past emergencies taking into account probability frequency location magnitude and potential impact climate topography Number of people at risk derived from population data population s proximity to risk local infrastructur
140. o you in the form of reports tables even Google Earth files This section will explain how to import and start to use this information 5 8 1 Google Earth QGIS If you have created some data in Google Earth or someone has sent you a Google Earth file you can open this directly in QGIS Add Vector Layer gt choose OGR KML as the file type gt browse to the file gt Click Open gt the KML file will be added to the map Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping my Lompurer My Network File name doc kml Places Files of type OGR KML kml KML To save the data as a Shapefile Right click Layer gt Save As Choose the folder and a name for the Shapefile gt Click Save 5 8 2 Data from tables and reports Data in the field regarding the humanitarian situation is often stored and supplied in simple tables typically MS Excel files MS Access tables or plain text files You can save these files as CSV files for example in Excel these files can then be imported into QGIS Note If the table contains coordinates then it can be converted directly to a GIS file Adding a CSV file Click ED found in the bottom left of the screen The following window will appear 2 Create a Layer from a Delimited Text File Delimited text file srse_April_2011 Day 2 Student Victoriana_data HealthFacilties csv Layer name HealthFacilties Delimiter Delimiter string Geometry X field x_UTM Sample tex
141. oadable geographic data including Landsat MODIS ASTER and IUCN UNEP Protected Areas Database http glef umiacs umd edu data GPS Grass GIS QGIS can be used as an interface to Grass GIS functions Good raster analysis for flood prediction http grass osgeo org gvSIG a free GIS software package available as a desktop application or on a mobile device www gvsig gva es ILWIS open source GIS software originally developed at ITC in the Netherlands 25 L Ae D www ilwis org Linux operating system preloaded with various open source GIS software http www sourcepole com 2006 11 16 gis knoppix en Manifold GIS www manifold net QGIS Natural Earth Data 1 10 000 000 vector data global coverage Entire coverage downloadable as one package or choose separate geographical elements based on your requirements http www naturalearthdata com downloads Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping NGA Raster Roam US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency global raster datasets including SPOT mosaic Vector Map of the World and scanned maps http geoengine nima mil geospatial SW_TOOLS NIMAMUSE webinter rast_roam html OpenJUMP GIS open source software highly specialised on vector data editing and ease of use www openjump org OS Geo Foundation support for custom functionality programming www osgeo org search_profile ProVention Consortium community development and disaster tisk reduction
142. of the map erei visualisation tool and explains its key functions Click Visualise gt Map Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Configure information window Click on a data point on the map to display its information window This is the information from its row in the table To customise the information window Click Visualise gt Map gt Configure info window a link above the map viewer On the Automatic tab you can select the columns on your table from which the information displayed in the info window is taken On the Custom tab modify the layout and content of your info window using HTML code For more detailed instructions click Learn more When you are finished editing the code make sure you click Save To discard changes click Cancel Configure styles This lets you customise the overall look of your visualisation Here you may choose marker icons customise polygons and lines Also categorise buckets bands of data values and assign different icons to each Don t forget to click Save to implement changes Intensity map Visualize gt Intensity map Depending on the data in your columns you may be able to visualise your table as an intensity map You can select inten ev aa which column of your table is used for the intensity values Points FA me appear on the map as a gradual colour scale with their size also indicating their magnitude Polygons may also be defined for example region
143. old Ctrl and click row numbers as you require Unselect all To deselect all rows click E Move selection to top Groups all rows you have selected at the top of the table which makes reading and comparing data much easier G L ae D Invert selection Swaps all selected rows for all those not selected Copy selected rows to clipboard This allows you to copy and paste data in selected rows to other applications such as a word processor of to another spreadsheet 2 B u 5 QGIS Zoom map to selected rows Displays the corresponding points in your QGIS map viewer Delete selected features Removes data in selected rows from the attribute table and also removes their corresponding points on the map Use Edit gt Undo to rectify errors e Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Use Search and Advanced search buttons to query your data and locate specific entries Use Show selected only and Search selected only check boxes to hide rows that you are not currently interested in This declutters your view and makes analysing data much easier 5 9 5 Symbolising Features on a Map Right click Layer gt Properties gt Symbology tab In the Symbology settings Choose Unique Values Choose the Name Field gt Click Classify Layer Properties PointsOfinterest a 9 Legend type Unique Value Transparency 0 New symbology Classification field Descriptio v Symbology Classify
144. oldings munities to plan assessment missions S fe Situational 1 GPS points and tracks M Number of people affected casu a T Assessment report data alties Q 5 q Programme planning maps 1 Logistics maps 5 3 1 Raster data Supported raster formats op A O Arc Info Binary Grid Arc Info ASCII Grid GRASS Raster GeoTIFF JPEG Spatial Data Transfer Standard Grids US CII DEM Erdas Imagine Supported vector formats ESRI shapefiles MapInfo MIF interchange format and MapInfo Ty native format PostGIS layers the Po data pro plugin Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 5 3 3 Adding data to your project How might I use this This section will show you how to add and display data It is useful to have an image underneath your mapped data to give it some context To help locate important features for example rivers roads and large areas of open space for possible camps and urban settlements Add raster data Layer gt Add Raster Layer gt Navigate to file gt Open Or i Click Add Raster Layer icon Er Add vector data Layer gt Add Vector Layer gt Navigate to file gt Open Or Click Add Vector Layer icon E The layer will be added to your project and is visible in the Legend Tip Hold down the Control key and click multiple items to add many layers at one time Each vector data set will be added to the map project as a single layer The three most common of
145. onal medium paper or a computer screen all maps must have a defined projection system which involves complicated geometric calculations fortunately carried out by the computer You may have heard about some examples of projection systems such as Mercator or Lambert but there are many of them When creating maps using GIS the datasets have to be re projected to match the chosen projection of the map With conventional desktop GIS the software has add in tools to convert data between many different projection systems However with Google Earth all the internal map data is projected to a standard Simple Cylindrical projection so any map data imported to this would need to be adjusted to this projection to achieve a high level of accuracy however in practice this isn t always a problem for field mapping within a small area When using GIS software packages that can handle a range of projection systems including the QGIS package in the tutorial in chapter 5 it is important to know a little about projections Firstly it is important to understand that data that has spatial references that is the specific locations of features may have also been projected although this does not have to be the case If the data has been projected this means that mathematical formulas have been used to covert the data from a simple geographic location latitude and longitude to a location on a flat surface It is very helpfu
146. ont colour a Example color red gt Example lt font gt Example Line break Example lt br gt Example Example Centre lt center gt Example lt center gt Example Example Patagraph Example lt p gt New paragraph lt p gt New paragraph Website lt a href http www mapaction org gt MapAction lt a gt MapAction Email lt a href malito info mapaction org gt Contact Contact MapAction mai MapAction lt a gt opens email Insert image 7 7 Bie eae lt img stc image file path gt Image displayed from computer F j Insert image f a 5 lt img src http image URL gt Image displayed from website 8 ieee feces 82 www mapaction org Activity Six Open the Properties for the Possible Displaced Persons location placemark created for Activity Four Using the HTML example commands write the following information Possible IDP Location North South depending on chosen location entry point impassable due to bridge collapse Need for assessment to check fits IDP camp criteria 4 3 5 Basic Tools Creating a path or polygon How might I use this In Google Earth you can also create path line and polygon features A path might be marking a route along which displaced people are moving or the edge of a flooded area A polygon defines an enclosed area such as the limits of potential IDP camp or an extent of a flooded area To create a path either a Add gt Path or b Click To create a polygon either
147. ot Image here Terralook ViewGL CNES SIO NOAA NGA NASA PC http dl google com earth client current GoogleEarthWin exe Google Earth is available under three desktop licenses Mac http dl google com earth client current GoogleEarthMac dmg e Google Earth free version e Google Earth Pro 399 per year this has some enhanced features the same imagery and content as the free version e Google Earth Enterprise for use by organizations with large quantities of geospatial data 68 www mapaction org 4 1 2 Viewing the Globe Contents The purpose of this first exercise is to give you an overview of the basic layout terminology and functionality of Google Earth Double click on the Google Earth icon on your desktop or locate it in your programs list The icon looks like c as v this O BS 30 Each time you start Google Earth the Earth appears in the main window The area that shows the Earth is called the 3D viewer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q 25 a 15 09 A 14 Google Lc pu pa 49 LU E 1 Search panel 6 Image Overlay 11 Navigation oe 2 Hide Show sidebar 7 Measure 12 Status Bar e 3 Placemark 8 Email 13 3D Viewer 0 4 Polygon 9 Print 14 Layers Panel 5 Path 10 Google Maps 15 Places Panel 4 1 3 Changing Languages You can change the language displayed in Google Earth To do this 0 1 Click Tools gt Options
148. outes and Tracks These are features recorded by your GPS unit depending on how it has been used to gather data See chapter 3 for GPS operation and data collection QGIS Click O amp and the data file will be loaded into your QGIS viewer Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Downloading data into QGIS from a GPS unit Ensure your GPS is connected to your computer with the correct data transfer cable see chapter 3 7 for details on connecting your GPS unit to your computer and downloading data from it Plugins gt GPS gt GPS Tools gt Click Download from GPS tab Select the type of data either waypoints or tracks you wish to download Ensure you have selected which port your GPS is plugged into likely USB Assign a layer name and the file name to which you want the data stored and Click Save As to establish a file path to your data folder Click O amp and your data waypoints or tracklogs will begin downloading Once the download is complete the file saved in px format may be added to your QGIS project as a GPX data layer Plugins gt GPS gt GPS tools gt Load GPX file gt browse to file location gt Ok Using GPS data to construct a map How might I use this GPS waypoints can be used to establish locations of particular features whereas track logs are ideal for mapping roads For example in the instance where some transport links have been rendered impassable perhaps by flooding or a landslide and the GPS t
149. p Switch it on outdoors and let it search for the satellites This can take up to half an hour or more After that it will cemember where it is in the world and get a satellite fix quickly when you switch it on next time Set an appropriate coordinate system and datum see below for an explanation It s a good idea at this stage to clear the memory of any unwanted points or tracks from previous trips Take a co ordinate point at your base Does it appear correct compared with any map you have Before setting off make sure your GPS will work correctly throughout your fieldwork This means thinking firstly about batteries ensure you have enough spares Battery life can be lengthened by adjusting the GPS settings for example by ensuring the screen backlight does not come on unless necessary Also there are accuracy enhancing features WAAS and EGNOS that do not Ga www mapaction org work in most parts of the world and will drain power so disable them via the setup menus if you can Contents Remember that unless your GPS is the Atypical GPS display Note that screens and most up to date model with a high functions vary between sensitivity antenna it will need a clear gt eae view of the sky place under the front or back window in the car to get a GPS satellites in view signal Also it won t work well under kassako jalanah alis trees or amongst tall buildings or even Current position display
150. pers mailing list w crisismappers ne The list usually carries news of emerging online mapping resources and crowd source initiatives in response to particular emergencies Data Collection Scanned topographic maps See Section 2 3 for sources of more detailed maps of some areas usually available as simple graphics files for quick viewing as well as georeferenced examples The next section returns to sources of GIS data whether for access in an emergency or for a slow time mapping research or data preparedness project GPS 2 3 Data layers key categories This section takes commonly used categories such as elevation and transport gives an introductory overview and lists several likely data sources Details of each specific data source are given in the next section 2 4 The categories used here are based on the categories in MapAction s system of data naming described in detail in Section 2 5 G L A D Administrative Units These are a country s administrative divisions by convention numbered according to their hierarchical rank and named differently in most countries For example in Pakistan country level 0 province level 1 district level 2 tehsil level 3 and union council level 4 What might seem like rather mundane information becomes crucially important in emergency and humanitarian contexts Most data about a situation and its humanitarian needs come from existing struct
151. r example 100 metres between contours iS a Other measures can also be derived from DEM data slope angle or steepness 5 2 being one of them If contour data are available in vector format then GIS 2 can be used to create a DEM dataset by interpolation with a user specified Quy resolution 3 Sources 1 90 metre DEM SRTM 30 metre DEM ASTER GDEM 1 Shorelines NGA Shorelines Coloured and shaded NaturalEarth Data Collection Map scans These are conventional general purpose maps like Ordnance Survey maps in the UK or USGS Topographic maps in the USA that have been scanned i e in raster format and used in a GIS These can provide a useful short cut to a detailed base map There is no need to assemble many separate layers nor to spend time assigning colours symbols and labels as the cartographic work has already been done For this reason however they should only be used where such a level of detail is needed they generally provide too much detail to be used as the background for a thematic map GPS Another GIS use for scanned maps is to trace or digitize specific features from them to create new vector layers For example the locations of settlements could be manually digitized from a scan with the settlement names added as attributes Similarly roads networks are often digitized G L A D O A simple map scan or even a digital photo of a map
152. r it can still cause errors of several hundreds of metres which would of course be a problem for some mapping applications for example in landmine surveys Fortunately a global standard called WGS84 is now commonly used and is always used in Google Earth Humanitarian Data Collection GPS 1 7 Data formats There are many different data formats that you may encounter when working with GIS Some of the most commonly encountered are as follows G L Ae D 1 7 1 Vector Shapefiles As mentioned above ESRI Shapefiles are commonly used for GIS vector data In fact shapefiles are used as the standard file format by many GIS software packages including free and open source toolkits such as QGIS So it is useful to have a basic understanding of what a shapefile is composed of and how it works QGIS A shapefile can only contain one type of vector data it must be either points lines or polygons not a mixture In a shapefile containing say 10 points representing water wells each point is an individual feature and has a corresponding record in the file Each feature is described by its location and may have other information tagged to it perhaps for example the depth of the well and the name of the nearest village Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 2 Active gaul gaul_2006 levelO world 4z Il Search world File Edit View Tools Help Organize v D Open Burn New folder
153. r that unless your GPS is the most up to date model with a high sensitivity antenna it will need a clear view of the sky place under the front or back window in the car to get a signal Also it won t work well under trees or amongst tall buildings or even in steep sided valleys You can get external antenna accessories that help with this problem Village based assessments Log a WP at the centre of the village you are assessing It may be useful to WP various other features within the village if detailed mapping would be helpful For a big village or town record tracklogs along the main roads through the settlement and gather assessment data with reference to these eg south of main road to west of mosque 150 houses partially damaged Flood and damage surveys You can use the GPS to capture the extent of various types of damage eg a flood or area of collapsed buildings Go to various positions at the boundary of the flood and take a waypoint at each If possible record a tracklog around the perimeter of the damage Photographs Save WPs for locations of photographs taken for example when recording damage to specific structures or facilities You can then report the exact place the picture was taken Surveys from aircraft If you position your GPS unit appropriately and safely in a light aircraft or helicopter it will work well It is flight safe because it does not transmit it only receives It is useful to
154. racks recorded portray serviceable routes along which to deliver aid or support Several layers of data obtained using a GPS unit may be compiled to create a thematic map As seen in 5 11 Georeferencing an image using QGIS spatial distribution of features can be mapped In that particular case it was the location of key buildings in a given area Example using GPS waypoints recorded in Microsoft Excel How might I use this It is not always possible or even necessary to download data from a GPS electronically Sometimes data might be recorded manually by reading waypoints from your GPS display screen and inputting them to a spreadsheet For more information refer to section 5 8 2 Gap www mapaction org In the following example various locations for site inspections recorded with a GPS has been overlain onto a vector shapefile depicting national boundaries of Haiti The original Excel data file saved as a csv contains a number for each site the X Y coordinates the date and the time at which the data was recorded Additional attributes can be added in the spreadsheet in new columns and will appear in the Attributes Table see 5 9 Attribute Data within QGIS In this fictitious example an assessment of water supply facilities has been made for each site categorised into Good Moderate or Poor and recorded in the spreadsheet alongside the original GPS data The spreadsheet data was uploaded using the Add Delimited Text Layer tool det
155. rdinates of certain points such as the corners are specified but features such as a road cannot be described or attributed specifically in the database The name raster comes from the type of scanning process used Vector data consists of points lines or polygons areas that have specific coordinates and attributes and can be laid out as a table For example a road line feature that starts at point A passes through point B and C and ends at point D and which is called Station Road can be held in the database with those coordinate and attribute details A vector data file can contain many point line or polygon feature records ESRI Shapefiles are a common way to share vector data 1 4 3 What kinds of spatial data may be useful in my work have only a small amount of spatial data available for the area in which you plan to work However in other cases a al there may be a wide range of potential n data sources and types It s useful to K l mapped information before you start gathering and inputting the data This will help you to make a prioritised shopping list for spatial data o create the desired combination of geographic information Types of layers of particular interest in humanitarian and development work include the following Spatial data comes in a wide range of types and formats In some cases you may have some idea of the actual needs for Pui Sig Using GIS software all m
156. rea to be mapped Thematic map A map displaying a particular type of data for a specific purpose for example health facilities status or emergency shelter needs Contrast with a topographic map Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS G a amp D O QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Topographic map Also called a topo sheet A general purpose map that shows the landforms and terrain but also usually physical features like roads and settlements A topographic map may be used as a base for a thematic map Topo sheet See Topographic map UTM Universal Transverse Mercator A global coordinate system which is widely used It divides the Earth into UTM zones Vector data Spatial data comprising point line or polygon features Each feature can have its own attributes which allows manipulation and analysis Contrast with raster data which does not have individual features Vertex plural vertices A junction point in a line or polygon feature Vertices may be edited to change the shape or geometry of the feature Visualisation The creation of maps using spatial data Vulnerability and capacity assessments VCA A structured field assessment methodology used in disaster risk reduction Waypoint A point feature recorded using a GPS receiver If imported into Google Earth each waypoint is interpreted as a placemark Web Feature Service WFS A standard for exchanging spa
157. red in Placer Pane www mapaction org Appendix 4B Entering coordinates in Google Earth Contents For entering coordinates for placemarks fly to and descriptions latitude and longitude values can be set using the following notations Decimal Degrees DDD In this notation decimal precision is set in the degree coordinate Humanitarian Mapping Degrees Minutes and Seconds DMS In this notation decimal precision is set in the seconds coordinate Degrees Minutes with Decimal Seconds DMM In this notation decimal precision is set in the nutes coordinate Data Collection Latitude and longitude syntax is specified as follows Numeric Values Simply separate each coordinate notation with a white space and the entry will be recognized correctly Direction Notation North South East West Use N S E or W to indicate direction The letter can be entered either upper or lower case or it can be placed before or after the coordinate value Cj RS You can also use the minus sign to indicate a westerly or southerly position Entering latitude longitude pairs When entering latitudinal or longitudinal pairs the first coordinate is interpreted as latitude unless you use a direction letter to clarify E or W 2S LL Ac D 0 erei Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Appendix 4C Google Earth keyboard equivalent commands Command Keyboard Mle se EAE WIT AN ie H Normal
158. rences to positions usually relative to the surface of the Earth see georeferenced Spatial Database Management Systems DBMS A database system sometimes used in conjunction with GIS software in this case the DMBS is used mainly to store the data but often also provides limited analysis and data manipulation functions SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission A global dataset of height data acquired by the NASA Shuttle mission in Feb 2000 The dataset is freely available for GIS use Symbology Usually refers to the symbol set used to depict features on a map GIS software allows the symbols to be changed depending on data variables For example to display road segments with an attribute damaged to a different colour Simple cylindrical projection A projection system used in Google Earth Shareware Software that is typically issued as a trial version for free use with full functioning versions available on a proprietary or commercial licence Shapefile A format for vector data sets published by the company ESRI Shapefiles are used widely in a number of GIS software packages Spatial referencing system A definition of the locational data structure of spatial data This may include the coordinate system datum and projection system Spheroid A mathematical model that describes the shape of the Earth Datums used in GIS are based on a specific spheroid that give the best fit to the shape of the Earth for the a
159. rent area select the Pan button and click within the viewer cg Once happy with the area within the viewer you can click the Select window r button above the viewer This will frame the displayed area B The viewer size can be altered by using the drop down menu to the upper right of the view There is also a button to open a help file o By clicking the Reset button the session is started over from the beginning a More advanced search options Above the viewer there are a number of tabs Data from these tabs can be combined and are displayed together in the viewer Date Type The default tab allows the user to search for data based on its date of acquisition and from a number of attributes in the scroll down list To select or deselect from the lists use Ctrl Click The Update Map button must be pressed after a selection is made to refresh the map and display any changes Path Row Imagery is selected by entering values that relate to the satellite s position above the Earth s surface ED www mapaction org For example WRS 2 Path 1 Row 50 is an area of the Lesser Antilles encompassing St Lucia and Martinique Ascending path numbers shift the area covered westwards while ascending row numbers shift the area covered southwards In order to cover a larger area the Start Path and End Path similarly the Start Row and End Row can be ene a specified See Contents
160. rk data sets assessment data programme plans etc Remember that any spatially referenced data in a suitable format can be imported into your GIS G L A D 1 5 Cautions when collecting and using spatial data While collecting and using spatial data for positive humanitarian purposes it is important to be aware of safety and protection issues that could arise QGIS In some countries map production or even map possession may be treated with suspicion by some groups which may include the government Particularly in complex conflict related emergencies data collection in the field using GPS may be misconstrued as undesirable intelligence gathering Use of satellite image data even if publicly available could be problematic Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Ensure you are aware of and allow for any such sensitivities before you start It is a vital principle that data collected should not cause harm to anyone Even though you are unlikely to be collecting data on individuals be aware of the protection issues for all communities when collecting or using data For example producing maps showing the locations of vulnerable displaced people could inadvertently allow them to be targeted for violence or exploitation It may be necessary to restrict access to such data and derived maps 1 6 Projections and datums Because a map has to depict the multi dimensional surface of the earth onto a two dimensi
161. rmation covering countries or geopolitical areas The files are in a format amenable to input into geographic information systems databases and spreadsheets giving end users powerful capabilities for data analysis manipulation and display OpenStreetMap see CloudMade and GeoFabrik Second Administrative Level Boundaries SALB T www unsalb org T See also GAUL UN project to provide second level administrative boundaries for countries worldwide The files are downloaded as shapefiles shp and e00 extensive metadata and a JPG preview are available for each Soil Map Archive includes geological maps too T eusoils jrc ec europa eu esdb_archive EuDASM indexes access htm A collection of maps from many sources and over a large date range Many are scanned paper maps Content ranges from soil quality to land suitability to rivers and tributaries Each image can be saved as a large JPG SRTM see CGIAR Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission TRMM T trmm gsfc nasa gov The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission RMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA designed to monitor 35 gt www mapaction org and study tropical rainfall Resources include real time 3 hourly and 7 day rainfall global flood and landslide monitoring hurricanes and typhoons rain averages and anomalies and climatology among others There are also global real time average rainfall rain accumulation and flood potenti
162. rth 4 1 Introduction what is Google Earth 4 2 Layers 4 3 Adding New Features 4 4 Using Image Overlays 4 5 GPS and Google Earth 4 6 Saving and sharing eToro EUR ELE 4 7 Google Earth add ons 4 8 Saving and printing images 4 9 Google Fusion Tables Appendix 4A Quick guide Appendix 4B Coordinates Appendix 4C Keyboard commands Appendix 4D Useful websites for using Google Earth The tutotial in this chapter will give you a basic understanding of using Google Earth within disaster risk reduction and relief We will be working with data from various locations including data from previous MapAction deployments After completing this tutorial you will be able to portray geographical information as a digital image file suitable for display on a computer screen in Google Earth sharing over a network or the web and as pictorial formats such as PNG GIF or JPEGs www mapaction org Beyond Google Earth itself it s useful to have a basic understanding of GIS For a general introduction to humanitarian GIS see chapter 1 of this Field Guide Similarly we also refer to some GIS and remote sensing terminology for which you can find introductory information in the annex to this guide and in chapter 5 together with guidance on using the free open source software QGIS This tutorial is based on Google Earth version 6 which was released in December 2010 However most of the content will also work with earlier versions
163. rview If you click and drag the red rectangle in the overview that shows your current extent the main map view will update accordingly Data Collection Status Bar How might I use this Shows current position in map coordinates e g meters or decimal degrees as the mouse pointer is moved across the map view GPS To toggle between showing coordinate position or the view extents of the map view as you pan and zoom in and out Status Bar gt Coordinate Status Bar gt Extent E eo At the far right of the status bar is a projector icon S 25 LU ne D Clicking on this opens the projection properties for the current project Tip Context help When you need help on specific topic you can access context help via the Help button available in most dialogs QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 5 2 Creating and saving a new project How might I use this It is possible that you will have many different sets of data so it is important to manage them efficiently to prevent mistakes and wasting valuable time You will store all your work in Projects The data you use will not be stored within the project file but will be linked to it therefore the same data can be used for many projects 5 2 1 Loading and saving an existing project Loading a project File gt Open Project gt navigate to folder gt select file gps gt Open Saving a project It is advisable to
164. s 86 4 4 2 Advanced image overlays 87 4 5 GPS and Google Earth 88 4 5 1 Using GPS Devices with Google Earth 89 4 5 2 Importing GPS Data 89 4 5 3 Real time GPS tracking 90 4 6 Saving and sharing Google Earth data 91 4 6 1 KML 91 4 6 2 Sharing Places Information 93 4 6 3 Sharing data over a network 94 4 7 Google Earth add ons 95 4 8 Saving and printing images 97 4 8 1 Save current view 97 4 8 2 Printing 97 4 8 3 Memory and disk cache preferences 97 4 9 Google Fusion Tables 99 4 9 1 Some basic features of Google Fusion Tables 99 4 9 2 Visualising your data on Google Maps 103 4 9 3 Exporting data as a KML for use in Google Earth 105 Appendix 4A Quick reference guide 106 Appendix 4B Entering coordinates in Google Earth 107 Appendix 4C Google Earth keyboard equivalent commands 108 Appendix 4D Useful websites for Google Earth 109 ED www mapaction org Chapter 5 Humanitarian Mapping for Quantum GIS a Ko a D amp fe 5 How to use chapter 5 110 5 1 Introduction getting started with Quantum GIS 111 5 1 1 Download Quantum GIS 111 c 5 1 2 Basic layout 111 D 5 2 Creating and saving a new project 114 a 5 2 1 Loading and saving an existing project 114 z 2 5 3 Data 114 3 5 3 1 Raster data 115 z 5 3 2 Vector data 115 z 5 3 3 Adding data to your project 116 E e 5 4 Navigating QGIS 116 i 5 4 1 Zoom in and out 117 Q 5 5 4 2 Docking and undocking Views 117 oO 5 4 3 Panning 118 5 5 Using the map legend to control th
165. s of several sets of data to create new datasets Datum This can mean a reference height but in GIS usually refers to a geodetic model that is used as a framework for accurate position measurement See also spheroid WGS84 is commonly used as datum GPS Desktop GIS Software that runs on a desktop or laptop computer as contrasted with web based applications and Google Earth Digital elevation model DEM A computer model of the Earth s terrain surface used in GIS Google Earth has a built in DEM that is based on SRTM data ESRI geodatabase See geodatabase ESRI Shapefile See shapefile Feature In GIS a feature is an individual spatial component of a dataset for example a particular village point feature section of road line feature or lake polygon feature 25 a amp D O Field A field is a category of data within a database file For example the Name field in a database of towns The actual data are contained in records File format Spatial data can be contained in a wide range of types of files The file extension gpx shp usually indicates the file format that has been used Free and open source software FOSS Any software that can be used and or modified without charge as contrasted with proprietary or commercial software QGIS Geodatabase An ESRI format for spatial data allowing the holding of many data types in a single database and with special functions for dat
166. s on importing data As seen in this image there are several features on the ground that may be digitised for different uses Imagery Date 4 5 2010 7 47 30 aay Eye alt 6 88 km For the purpose of this example the features we are interested in are a settlement to the left of the image roads a river and the lagoon 133 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Here is the Google Earth image with the digitised features traced onto it using QGIS Imagery Date 4 5 2010 Pictured below are the digitised features saved as a number of shapefile layers the Google Earth base image has been removed This data can now be used in your project to construct a map fit for purpose 0 200 ooo degrees QGIS 2011 Note In order to use data in this way the original image from which the features were digitised needs to be georeferenced assigned precise eg www mapaction org geographic coordinates to establish its position on the globe This enables other data layers to be overlayed accurately See section 5 11 below for Contents detailed instructions Remember each feature has its own attributes table where specific information about it is stored Humanitarian Mapping 5 11 Georeferencing target data using QGIS This is a simplified guide on how to georeference data using QGIS For further information consult the QGIS user guide Data Collection Help gt OGIS Home Page gt Documentation gt Manuals gt
167. showing in UTM format in steep sided valleys You can get Zone 21N X coordinate s coordinate external antenna accessories that help with this problem Humanitarian Mapping 3 3 Coordinate systems and datums Data Collection This sounds confusing but it does not need to be The absolute essentials to know are 3 3 1 Coordinate systems Coordinate systems are ways of describing a point on the earth s surface The best known is latitude longitude Another is UTM and there are many regional and national systems GPS It does not particularly matter which coordinate system your GPS is set to display provided that you know which one you are using and note this in your report Try to match the coordinate system to any field mapping that you are already using Latitude longitude can be denoted in several different ways Here are two ways of reporting the same position It is not too important which one you use provided you are consistent Degrees minutes seconds eg N orth 51 40 57 Wiest 0 39 25 Decimal degrees eg lat 51 682 long 0 627 Note north and east ate positive numbers west and south are negative 25 L A D UTM Universal Transverse Mercator is also widely used It is a global system based on a scale of metres and has three components QGIS The UTM zone eg 30U The X coordinate eg 0661965 This is measured across the map The Y coordinate eg 57
168. start of a directory tree You can narrow your search for particular locations by selecting from each list of folders The datasets for CED www mapaction org continental and national level maps appear at the top of their respective lists but these will have little use for humanitarian mapping Contents To download a particular file simply click on its associated link and the transfer will start automatically Each family of datasets has the same constituent file types osm ai img bin gpx 0v2 poly and shp Humanitarian Mapping Ensure you select a filetype that can be opened and read by the software you have available 2 4 3 Obtaining data from the Global Land Cover Facility Data Collection URL http glcf umiacs umd edu The home page exhibits examples of imagery that can be obtained from the site along with some basic metadata for each There are two main ways in which to obtain free downloadable data from GLCF The first is by using the Data and Products tab which opens a library of available data types such as ASTER Landsat and Quickbird GPS Select the data source you require by clicking its button This will take you to a page containing some metadata and citation guidelines for individual scenes images This is a quick and fool proof way to ensure use of the scenes is legitimate and to the provider s specifications At the top of the page under the heading Data Access there are the dow
169. t 1D Type X_UTM Y_UTM O Hospital 695111 5710150 1 Clinic 695993 5710369 2 Clinic 696395 5709942 3 Dispensary 695911 5709419 4 Hospital 697294 5709602 5 Dispensary 697378 5709609 6 Clinic 695985 5710088 Click the Open button to browse to and load the CSV file Now enter in the Delimiter String Choose the correct field names for the X and Y coordinates Click OK www mapaction org 5 8 3 Data from GPS Contents How might I use this Often data is recorded using GPS units Waypoints paths and tracklogs are stored onto a handheld device in the field to be downloaded and manipulated back at base Whether you collect the data yourself or are handed it by a colleague or another organization it is important to know how to use it This section details how to use GPS data in QGIS Humanitarian Mapping Importing and using data from a GPS Loading GPS data into QGIS Data Collection Import GPS data saved in gpx file format into QGIS by following these instructions Plugins gt GPS gt GPS Tools A new window will open Click the Load GPX file tab GPS Load GPX file Import other file Download from GPS Upload to GPS GPX Conversions File Browse Feature types _ Waypoints C Routes C Tracks Click Browse and locate the GPS data from where it is saved G L oo D Click Open and check or uncheck the boxes that appear according to your needs Waypoints R
170. t Properties gt Labels gt check Display Labels gt use drop down menu to select field gt select properties gt Click OK Activity Find a selection of vector data shapefiles for the area in which you are working for example from a partner organization that uses GIS Import them into Quantum GIS Set up a series of data layers and set the symbols to create a working base map see Chapter 1 for hints on cartography Navigate the extents of the data and practice zooming to areas of interest Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 5 7 Selecting features How might I use this Select one or more features and their corresponding attributes for deletion export copying and analysis For example exporting relevant data on IDPs using subtotals of values held as attributes to work out how many Non Food Items NFIs are still needed 5 7 1 Select features tool Select one or more features by clicking on them or drawing a boundary around them Once selected on the map the corresponding attributes are also selected in the attribute table Click RP gt choose method of selection gt navigate curser to map gt select area Or View gt Select gt choose method of selection gt navigate curser to map gt select area Note when selecting an area using a polygon Right click to finish the shape 5 7 2 Select feature by querying attributes How might I use this Instead of selecting features graphically on the map this method se
171. t appears over the terrain Icon Click the icon for the Placemark top right corner of the dialog box to choose an alternate image Click OK to apply Your placemark appears in the 3D viewer and as an entry in the selected folder Right click on a folder in the places panel automatically set as the container for the new folder Select Add gt Folder Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS ig a eter ts Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Task Description Name ldentifiable name Description General description for the folder including the use of HTML tags to format your description and include images Style Colour Available when there are Setting folder properties icons within the new folder Use this feature to apply label and icon styles universally across all items within the folder View Set the date range and tilt Double click on the folder it and repositions the 3D viewer to that position Select and drag item to a new position in a list of items Reordering placemarks or Select item and drag and drop it over a folder foldets Right click the item CTRL Click on the Mac use the drop down menu to cut and paste to new location Select item gt Right click CTRL Click on Renaming a placemark or Un WEG gt interes folder You can enter the new name directly into the name field Select item gt Right click CTRL
172. t can be a useful tool for converting from one file format to another 60 www mapaction org 3 8 4 Uploading data to a GPS Contents There may be occasions when you need to visit a series of locations and you are given a tracklog to get there and a set of waypoints These can be uploaded to you GPS using GPSU To upload your data Mapping 1 Connect GPS to laptop and connect in GPS Open the waypoints tracklog or route file to be uploaded 3 Next go to GPS gt Upload All A GPS transfer dialog will displayed Select the data type Waypoints Proximity Waypoints Routes Tracks and Current Position Time and OK The data will then be transferred to your GPS Humanitarian Data Collection 3 9 GPS base maps Most GPS units come with some form of base mapping much of which is very crude and only contains a certain amount of detail A lot of the time this is perfectly adequate As GPS units have become more advanced the popularity of better base mapping has risen There are now many sources of base mapping either from specialist providers via the open source mapping such as OpenStreetMap OSM or indeed your own If the opportunity arises and your GPS is capable base mapping can be a useful tool GPS 3 10 Final thoughts Please remember that your humanitarian assessment or other information gathering effort may be wasted if the place you visited cannot be located again when relief assistance begins Trying to fi
173. tables folder Note This folder is in the Temporary Places folder and will need to be moved to My Places or saved manually to allow use in future sessions File gt Save gt Save My Places erei Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping You Create hi Single Point Placemark Toolbar gt Add gt Placemark gt Drag to desired location and edit properties Paths Toolbar gt Add gt Path gt enter properties gt Click hold cursor to draw Lines Toolbar gt Add gt Path gt enter properties gt click release cursor to draw Polygons Toolbar gt Add gt Polygon gt enter properties gt deaw using cursor Folder Add gt Folder gt edit settings as required Appendix 4A Google Earth quick guide Data Source Website Email l Locate Website Email and Save KML File to your local drive KML File gt Open gt narigate to File gt Open Image Add gt Photo Image Overlay gt navigate to file gt Open Edit Select item gt Properties Right click gt Sare as Save Select items Network USB Computer Share File gt Email gt Email Placemark Vien Image Delete Click File gt Delete T Install GPS Driver and connect cable Download Data Tools gt GPS Historical gt Waypoint Tracks Routes Click Import Data is stored in Places Panel Realtime Tracking Tools gt GPS gt Realtime gt select settings gt Start Data Sto
174. tarian outcomes Humanitarian Mapping Why is it important to manage data For a one off map it may be appropriate simply to import a few base map and other data files and store them in a single folder However mapping projects often grow quickly and it can become difficult to keep track of data that has been edited in various ways So it is strongly recommended that you start with good data management principles Data Collection Come up with a logical simple system to name your files enabling you to remember what it represents for example date type of data source and the version This will enable you to work efficiently and keep track of your data It also helps to have a well organised folder structure in which to store your files Always copy and save a version of the raw data before you start to work on it Then if any irreversible problems arise the original data source remains intact GPS Metadata and standards An important concept with spatial data mentioned earlier is metadata This means simply data about the data Important metadata fields for a spatial dataset include when the data was collected by whom how it is projected and so on Metadata may be held inside some file formats or attached separately for others or even supplied on paper G L A D Finally it is useful to know that there are several emerging standards for spatial data that enable it to be shared effectively a
175. ted map or JPG etc must be received by the users and allowances built in for problems such as the time to print the required number of map copies for a meeting and to get them over to the venue This sounds obvious but is easily under estimated and maps delivered too late may be of little use for decision making G LU amp D 1 9 An introduction to cartography Cartography is the process of turning spatial data into a visualisation of the earth s surface that is a map that communicates as clearly as possible the most relevant and important information for the map s purpose There are some accepted rules and good practices of cartography and these should always be applied selectively with your user s needs in mind Otherwise the person using your map may have to work hard to make sense of the information or worse still they may misunderstand vital information and make poor decisions based on this potentially with negative consequences in a humanitarian operation QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Important things to consider when designing your maps Does your map have a clear purpose Unless you have thought about what you are aiming to communicate you may struggle to include the right information Is the extent of the map that is the area that it covers appropriate Have you set the boundaries of the map to include important towns or landmarks as reference points for som
176. th reacts when it encounters erroneous KML 1 Click Tools gt Options gt 3D View On the Mac click Google Earth gt Preferences gt 3D View The Options dialog box appears 2 Click the General tab 3 Under KML Error Handling choose one of the following 2S LL Ac D 0 Silently accept all unrecognized data Choose this to load KML regardless of any errors Show prompts for all errors Choose this to show a message upon each instance of an error e Abort file load on any error Cancels loading of a KML file when Google Earth detects an error erei 4 Click OK Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Saving Data Before any of your data in Google Earth can be shared with other people and organizations the data needs to be saved You may also wish to save your work so that you may return to it a later date There are four ways to save data in Google Earth 1 Save to My Places 2 Save Place as 3 Save My Places and 4 Save Image Save to My Places File gt Save gt Save to My Places or by dragging left click folder hold move and release the folder or feature Or Right click placemark gt Save to My Places When any new data is added to Google Earth the default location for it in the Places Panel is the Temporary Places Folder If the user closes Google Earth down without saving the data is lost If the user wishes to return to the new data at a later stage it can be saved to the
177. then be selected and repositioned as necessary The polygon may also be stretched by grabbing an edge by holding the Left Mouse Button and dragging it Select Features In this case polygons once selected using can be deleted cut copied and pasted using these buttons respectively o fp ad Gp www mapaction org 5 10 3 Advanced tools Contents How might I use this Each tool is described its function explained and an example of the outcome given beneath Mapping Simplify Feature This tool removes nodes from a polyline or polygon to simplify its shape Use the slider to set the tolerance and determine what extent the shape should be simplified Humanitarian Data Collection GPS Add Ring Effectively cutting a hole in an existing polygon Choose which polygon to add the ring to by selecting it with the Select Feature button shown above It is used much the same way as the Capture Polygon tool but remember the shape created is removed from the original polygon G L D Add Part Use the Select Feature button shown above to choose the polygon to which you wish to add the part Ensure the Add Part tool is selected and construct the new polygon area in the desired place Once the part is added both polygons behave as a single shape and their attributes are shared If moved QGIS their positions will remain relative to one another Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping
178. tial data at the level of individual features Web Map Service WMS A standard for the distribution of maps over the internet WMS allows positional data to be attached to a map object WGS84 World Geodetic System 1984 A datum commonly used with GIS datasets and with Google Earth Worldfile Data added to typically a satellite image containing spatial referencing information X and Y coordinates In a Cartesian coordinate system such as UTM the latitude and longitude descriptors are replaced by X northings and Y eastings which are metres from a fixed origin There is sometimes also a Z coordinate which is height altitude or elevation www mapaction org Annex 2 Contents Useful websites All In Diary up to date humanitarian information and resources http www allindiary org ASTER PAA LANDSAT ASTER and IXONOS images for protected areas A KMZ file download for use in Google Earth Mapping http www ambiotek com paa Humanitarian Digital Map Archive global coverage maps A zoomable viewer with simple tools allows import of data and layer management hetp dma jrc it Data Collection Geo4ngo an exchange platform of information related to the use of geographical information by humanitarian organisations http www keyobs be geo4ngo index html GIS Development aims to promote use of GIS in areas of development www gisdevelopment net Global Land Cover Facility GLCF freely downl
179. tion generated is used to adjust the assessment priorities Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Case Study continued combining data to create maps for decision making HIN s assessment team in the field sends by satellite phone the most urgent data that it has collected including GPS coordinates of key roads into the affected area that have been blocked by landslides On their return to base the following day their village assessment reports are tagged with GPS waypoint numbers and the routes they used to avoid the landslips have been tracklogged All this data is quickly downloaded onto computer and shared with other agencies notably with MapAction which is producing overview maps of assessment activity damage and the most urgent humanitarian needs Due to its local sectoral expertise HIN takes a key role in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASH Cluster Its dataset of water boreholes is combined with other spatial data including health data to produce maps that identify communities lacking secure water supplies who therefore become priorities for assistance International relief donors both within and outside Marginalia find the maps that HIN s staff have produced during the emergency to be very important ways to assimilate and understand the humanitarian situation and give them confidence in committing relief funding early to the most needy areas The above case study while fictitious gives an insight into the mult
180. tional reports very quickly and although the individual reports may be unverified the pattern of contributed data may be very useful when compared to other information Another phenomenon with potential benefit to humanitarian mapping is the emergence of cloud based computing in which software is server based rather than installed on the user s machine and accessed over the internet This may not be practicable in field locations but could work well in headquarter based situations We can expect to see more easy to use GIS software being released as cloud based applications in the near future Appropriate technology This guide alongside other resources available from MapAction aims to share with the disaster response community MapAction s experience with basic GIS tools and methods available at minimal cost which are judged to be appropriate technology for use by humanitarian organisations of any size and level of resources However don t assume that spatial data can only be processed using sophisticated GIS software Maps that are perfectly fit for purpose can often be created using other tools including a pad of graph paper and a pencil or even an Excel spreadsheet for example to map individual blocks in a refugee camp that are laid out on a grid pattern Consider whether low no tech methods could meet your needs before investing time in computer based methods Gap www mapaction org 1 4
181. to your browser The file is compressed and will need to be unzipped before use Humanitarian Mapping Other methods of locating data The Map Search method can be used to earmark image attributes that can then be used to quickly locate an image using the FTP directory tree mentioned earlier or other available search facilities An example would be to note the WRS Path and Row of a scene that can be entered into the Path Row search via the tab at the top of the screen or navigated to in the FTP directory Data Collection Alternatively data can be ordered to tailor specific requests This is done by clicking the Services tab and then on the link under Data Ordering Services The data however is expensive GPS Note On many of the GLCF pages as the site is navigated there is a Quick Links box on the right of the screen This is a very quick and easy way of discovering what other data information software and research projects are available It often provides alternative sources of the data currently being searched within the GLCF website 2 5 Organising your datasets iG LU Ae D 2 5 1 Structure of data folders databases Maintaining a good data folder minimises the risk of losing data and maximises efficient and quick data access MapAction keeps data in a defined folder structure helping in all stages of a deployment data preparation in country operations and subsequent handover
182. to check between windows the Georeferencer plugin window can be minimised or maximised accordingly It can be found to the bottom left of the main QGIS window once minimised Some operating systems allow you to clip two windows adjacent to each other which is ideal for cross checking between target image and reference data Note always bear in mind the nature of your reference data You may need to pinpoint natural features such as prominent coastal outcrops treelines sharp bends in rivers and so on 5 11 3 The georeferencing process Beginning the process Click the Add Point button k and click on a point on the image The point you choose has to be either a recognisable feature or a precise location known to you likely recorded with a GPS Clicking a point will open this window Enter X and Y coordinates DMS dd mm ss ss DD dd dd or projected coordinates mmmm mm which correspond with the selected point on the image Alternatively dick the button with icon of a penal and then cick a corresponding point on map canvas of QGIS to fill in coordinates of that point Snap to background layers accel peace Wacss www mapaction org Here you have the option to input the coordinates manually if known If not click the From map canvas button This will take you to the main QGIS map view where your reference data is Be careful to click the same point on the referenced image as this is how the target image gains its g
183. to collect data Chapter 3 If you have time or if you are completely new to the subject we recommend that you read Chapter 1 first It contains an introduction to the whole subject and explains some important terms and concepts However don t be discouraged by these technicalities it is quite possible to start using the software tools without an in depth understanding of all the details Google Earth in particular is very easy to use If you want to use a GIS software package other than the Quantum GIS suite which is covered here this guide may still be useful to you because almost all the main concepts are relevant whatever software you intend to use Finally if you find difficulty in understanding or using any of the content of the guide or if you have suggestions to improve it please email us at info mapaction org We wish you success in your humanitarian work Gp www mapaction org Acknowledgements This guide has been authored principally by Naomi Morris of MapAction with assistance from the MapAction team Grateful thanks are due to the Dulverton Trust who provided funding to research and write the guide For providing technical input and advice thanks are also due to Ramiro Galvez of UNDAC Bhupinder Tomar of IFRC Charlie Mason of Save the Children Joe Kratochvil of US USAR the Communications and Information Services Branch OCHA Matthew Needle and Dr Richard Teeuw of the University of Portsmouth School of Earth
184. to enable the production of an onscreen map formatted to your specifications and displayed exactly how it will appear on a print out By using the tools described previously in this section the process is intuitive and fairly simple to grasp Explore their functionality and practice using each in various contexts and you will soon be producing operational maps quickly and efficiently This simple example map depicts a fictitious scenario showing the location of several bush fires in relation to vulnerable dwellings and the available major BELGI Humanitarian A Contents Mapping Collection GPS G L oo D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping access routes for emergency vehicles It also includes information on the prevailing wind direction The intensity and therefore inherent hazard of each blaze has been represented by the size of the icon Printing and sharing your map Cl a lt a Ma vee Layout a TA RAROC R IORSESNTVOCREaAK When you are satisfied with the overall look of your map you have a number of options Save as template If you are working in one area with known constants and need to quickly update the same map with different ephemeral features or items this is an important time saving device A template can be loaded and quickly altered or added to as required Export As Image The map can be saved in the file location of your choice in a number of different formats including b
185. to plan the size and location of initial assessments and responses Similarly when assessment results do become available the actual number of people believed to be in need of assistance can be compared to the baseline population to determine the proportion of people affected And in longer term humanitarian and development projects more detailed demographic information will generally be used Humanitarian Mapping Ideally population data are obtained from a recent reliable census or projections from an earlier census While such data generally become available from local sources during the course of a disaster response or a project most rapid responses must make use of readily available estimates of population some of which are listed here These datasets are grid based e g people per km and are compiled from a variety of sources these might include census data if available or indirect measures of population such as the proximity to roads or the detection of light made at night Such data can be used to give a indication of variations in population density but are not intended to give accurate absolute numbers nor to give specific local detail Data Collection GPS Sources Afripop for most African countries Gridded Population of the World GPW and the Global Rural Urban Mapping Project GRUMP LandScan 2 3 1 Further sources of data 25 LU Ae D Environmental Aspects see also
186. ts it can import or open The open source Quantum GIS can open all of the formats used by the data sets in this chapter In technical terms QGIS handles almost all of the many formats supported by GDAL and OGR both open source code libraries GoogleEarth is more limited the free version Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping opens only a few raster and vector formats Among the benefits of the paid for Pro version is opening Shapefiles shp and MapInfo s ab files Many free utilities exist however to convert between formats Similarly QGIS can be used to open a Shapefile and save it as a Google Earth amp m file for example 2 2 Forget GIS I just need a map How might I use this Before going ahead with the survey of GIS data sources this section focuses on a particular need for geographical information when speed is of the essence As news of a disaster unfolds hard dara are likely to be non existent Rather the decisions on whether and how to respond typically depend on whatever scraps of information can immediately be found Sources of breaking news with geographical content BBC News AlertNet www trust org alertnet news Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System GDACS www gdacs org Earthquakes US Geological Survey earthquake usgs gov Hurricanes tropical cyclones NOAA Hurricane Center www nhe noaa gov A A 4 A 4 Websites of local newspapers and press agencies If it looks as though a response
187. tude Locate individual contacts people https www gooele co uk latitude b 0 Android Apple Market EpiCollect Design you own data collection form Can include geotagged photos http www epicollect net Data Humanitarian Contents Mapping Collection GPS 25 LU amp D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Chapter 4 Google Earth humanitarian mapping tutorial How to use chapter 4 Google Earth and Google Maps are widely used to explore the world s geography The following tutorial is specifically for exploiting Google Earth in humanitarian work You will use a variety of functions and processes which are aimed at giving you the knowledge and resources you need to create and share useful and informative maps quickly and easily If you are already familiar with Google Earth use the contents panel to direct yourself to the appropriate pages There is a field guide at the end of this chapter for quick reference In humanitarian work you can use Google Earth to e Obtain and display information to orientate new arrivals e Show who what where data coordination centtre s health facilities distribution centres refugee camps airfields drop zones e Display information about infrastructure damage and hazards e Divide up the disaster zone into search and rescue sectors affected zones unsafe zones and so on e Show possible evacuation routes Chapter 4 Google Ea
188. u have saved or have access to automatically appear in a list in Google Fusion Tables Data Collection Choose required spreadsheet gt Click Sect You will now be asked to grant Google Fusion Tables access to your Google Account in order to synchronise the data Note This is only required the first time you attempt to load a Google Spreadsheet Clete Read the onscreen information carefully and if you accept click Grant access You are then asked to select your spreadsheet again this won t be necessary from now on The data in your spreadsheet is now displayed onscreen Choose the columns you wish to import into Google Fusion Tables by 2S LL Ac D 0 selecting or deselecting the checkboxes above each Click Next Adding information about your data The next screen is crucial for data handling purposes and is a welcome feature of Google Fusion Tables QGIS You are asked to provide some information about your imported table Table name identifies the table within Google Fusion Ensure you choose a logical and instantly recognisable name Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Allow export enables viewers the option to export your table into CSV format for their own use Attribute data to adds a message to your data which is displayed when others view or use your data You may wish to include details of your organisation here Attribution page link provides the option to input a UR
189. ures of local government ministries UN agencies and NGOs all typically organized to follow the administrative structure Hence humanitarian mapping often involves linking a table of for example health data with a GIS layer of each district of a region QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping To learn a country s administrative structure and find listings of the higher level units the first stops are Statoids ww statoids com 1 Wikipedia GIS data in the form of polygons with related name attributes for administrative levels 1 and 2 are available for all countries Finer sub divisions which are often the most useful for mapping purposes are more variable in their availability Sources Global Administrative Unit Layers GAUL T Second Administrative Level Boundaries SALB Global Administrative Areas GADM Elevation Elevation or height data are typically used for two purposes On maps to give a visual impression of the terrain of an area whether by contour lines colouring or shading Although terrain is not always relevant it is often used in geographical overview orientation maps and in transport and flood maps In analysis for example to identify low lying flood prone areas steep landslide prone slopes or flat zones suitable for camps and other facilities Although topographic maps conventionally show elevation by use of contour lines most GIS elevation data sets are in raster form T
190. using Add gt Placemark in Google Earth and then keying in the latitude and longitude readings Data Collection However if you have collected a lot of data including tracklogs you will need to download the data from your GPS onto a computer You will need a GPS interface cable for modern GPS units this is often simply a USB cable and appropriate software to do this The latest free version of Google Earth version 6 0 includes GPS connectivity so you can save your waypoints and tracks as KML features How to download your GPS data into Google Earth can be found in 4 5 GPS and Google Earth GPS Other GPS software tools available include the following GPS Utility www gpsu co uk See below GPS Babel www gpsbabel org This free tool interfaces with a large number of GPS types and allows conversion of many data formats You can then save the waypoints and tracklogs and pass them on to mapping teams equipped with Geographical Information Systems GIS Once again make sure you tell them the coordinate and datum used They will also need a copy of your attribute records on paper so they know what each waypoint represents 25 LU amp D If you have appropriate PC software for your GPS you can save your data in KML files which allow you and others to whom you email the KML file to view your data using Google Earth QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping 3 8 GPS Utility GPS Utility GPS
191. ut not limited to JPEG PNG BMP PNG and TIF Export as PDF The map is saved in Portable Document Format to a file path of your choice It can be easily viewed by anyone with a PDF viewer in a user friendly and very clear format Export as SVG Scalable Vector Graphics the file data is saved as XML and can be read or modified with a large range of tools including for example Notepad The image is not subject to degradation by resizing or zooming Print Your created map can be printed direct from the Print Composer The normal Print window appears allowing you to define several options Cia www mapaction org Annex 1 Contents Glossary Admin areas Boundaries of government defined districts sub districts etc ArcGIS Suites of GIS software published by ESRI Inc Attribute data Data about features apart from the geometry itself For example the populations of settlements Mapping Cartesian coordinate system A system in which the coordinates of locations are given by reference to a flat grid by contrast with angular systems such as latitude longitude Humanitarian Cartography The art of map design selection of the best visualisation to suit the purpose of the map Data Collection Coordinates and coordinate systems Numeric descriptors of a location for example its latitude and longitude or X Y coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system Data analysis Using computer software the analysi
192. view See section 2 4 3 for detailed downloading instructions for GLCF data GIST T gistitos uga edu The Geographic Information Support Team Global Map ISCGM T www iscem org Recommended alternative Natural Earth Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation GSMaP rainfall T http sharaku eorc jaxa jp GSMaP_crest Google Earth T earth google com 1 As a source for high resolution imagery that can be saved 8 gery georegistered and used in GIS with due consideration to terms of use See Chapter 4 for Google Earth operating instructions and mapping techniques Google MapMaker roads points of interest T http www google com mapmaker The user can contribute to server based maps by adding points of interest and features Additions are verified by Google before being published Countries available for editing are limited Features may also be mapped without being published allowing the user to create and print personal maps Gridded Population of the World version 3 GPWv3 and the Global Rural Urban Mapping Project GRUMP T sedac ciesin columbia edu gpw Provides population density settlement data urban extents and sub national administrative boundaries for much of the world Contents is tabulated on the download page with additional information for each country DEIGI Humanitarian a Contents Mapping Collection GPS G a amp D QGIS Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping
193. which are represented below Layer Description Examples Polygon Composed of solid shapes made up of Large urban areas flooded interconnected vertices anchor points areas no go zones about which a line turns minefields Line Composed of line segments that may be Roads boundaries interconnected Can have vertices Point Individual points Small villages clinics camp locations 5 4 Navigate QGIS How might I use this When working with a map it will often be necessary to zoom in to view an area in more detail or zoom out to see a larger area D www mapaction org 5 4 1 Zoom in and out Toolbar gt Click the Zoom in or Zoom Out icon buttons Q Q Move the cursor over the map and click to zoom in or out around a point To zoom in to a specific area Click and hold the left mouse button Move the mouse to drag a rectangle around the area you wish to zoom to Release the mouse button If your mouse has a scroll wheel on top it can be used to zoom in or out by rolling it forward or backwards Zoom to Full Extent Zooming to full extent resets the map view to see every feature of every layer Toolbar gt Click Q Zoom to Previous or Next Extent Zooming to the most recent or next extent shown on your map view Toolbar gt Click amp Zoom to layer extent Zooming to a layer s extent will display an area showing every feature in the selected layer s Toolbar gt Click e Note Right click on
194. y My Places folder to hold places that you want to save If you are upgrading from a previous version of Google Earth it will import your saved P aces Items located in the Places panel but not saved in the My Places folder are located in the Temporary Places folder and are unavailable in the next Google Earth session if you do not move or save them to your My Places folder ie gt www mapaction org 4 3 2 Quick guide how to create and edit folders and placemarks Task Creating a new placemark Setting placemark properties Creating a Folder Description Select the folder in the places panel to store placemark The default folder is Temporary Places Position the viewer to the location you want to put the placemark Zoom into the best viewing level for the desired location Click Add gt Placemark or use the Toolbar menu and click the pushpin icon 49 Edit Placemark window appears and a placemark icon inside a flashing yellow square Position the cursor on the placemark and drag it to the desired location Note The Edit Placemark window must be open to move the placemark or set any properties Name Identifiable name Description Information about location includes use of HTML text see section 4 3 3 for more information Style Choose a colour scale size and opacity for the placemark icon View Choose the desired location for the Placemark Altitude Choose the height of the Placemark as i
195. z NfA leuonouny aa 3Y O1dVY sleep pue uolsas waists RRP podes oipe 40 wodke uiy ovonpjey Suunp S8XOq Papeys ay Ul l POMP asojeq Appendix 3B Waypoint recording sheet Bio uonoedeu mmm Syiodai olpe 9 s ulOodAeM wea pjal4 Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping Appendix 3C Examples of GPS unit functions GARMIN MAP76 Verify coordinate Press Menu button system and datum settings Scroll down to Setup Enter then scroll right to Location Check position format is as you require and map datum is WGS84 Erase all prior data Switch off GPS waypoints and tracks Hold down Menu button while pressing ON button Confirm you wish to delete all user data Mark a new Press ENTER button waypoint Record waypoint number on sheet Press ENTER to confirm and save Start or stop Press Menu button recording tracks tracklog Scroll down to Setup Enter then scroll right to Location Check position format is as you require and map datum is WGS84 Navigate to a Press NAV button previously recorded waypoint Choose Go To Point gt Waypoints Select the waypoint to which you want to navigate Press Enger to start navigation mode GARMIN eTrex Press Page button until you reach the Menu screen Scroll down to Setup Enter then down to Units Check position format is as you require and map datum is WGS84 Delete points Menu gt Waypoints gt Delete All Delete tra

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